
CbstS 

Book 



■KKSKNTEI) RPl 



THE MESSIAH 



MOSES AND THE PROPHETS, 



ELEAZAR LORD. 



NEW-YORK: 
CHARLES SCRIBNER, 145 NASSAU STREET. 

18 5 3. 



BU35 
.Its 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853. by 

ELEAZAB LORD, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 

District of New- York. 






TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ISRAEL 



From the earliest periods a belief has prevailed among 
Jews and Gentiles, that in one mode or another the 
Supreme Being has appeared visibly on earth. In the 
Eastern World, Divine incarnations are taught in the 
Brahminical and other systems. 

For the origin of such a belief we must undoubtedly 
recur to the Divine appearances recorded in Moses and 
the prophets. Such visible appearances and the doctrine 
of the incarnation are taught in the Hebrew as well as 
in the Christian Scriptures. 

It is the object of the ensuing pages to show that He 
who truly became incarnate, and is announced as Jesus, 
the Christ, and also as Jehovah, Immanuel, God with us, 
is the same who in the Hebrew oracles is often called 
Jehovah and Elohim, and designated also by official 
titles, as the Messiah, the Messenger, Adonai, the Elohe 
of Abraham ; and that, under various designations, he 



IV TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ISRAEL. 

appeared visibly in a form like that of man to the Pa- 
triarchs, and to Moses, and others. In Him, in accord- 
ance with their Scriptures, the descendants of Israel will 
at length discern the True Messiah, who took man's 
nature, and in his stead, and as his substitute, was slain 
a sacrifice for sin, the Just for the unjust; who rose 
from the dead, and ascended on high in his glorified 
body ; and who will come again, visibly, to sit and rule 
as King on the throne of David ; to destroy the great 
Adversary and his works ; to vindicate his earlier ad- 
ministration ; to accomplish the ancient predictions con- 
cerning the Seed of Abraham, the land promised as an 
everlasting inheritance, and his own sacerdotal, pro- 
phetic, and regal offices ; and to receive due homage of 
the universe as Creator, Euler, and Redeemer. 

Of him as Jehovah and as the Messenger, it is affirmed 
that he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. (See 
Exodus ii. and Judges i.) And, after the lapse of 
uine hundred years, He himself proclaimed to their dis- 
persed and afflicted descendants: "Behold the days 
come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, Je- 
hovah liveth that brought up the children of Israel out 
of the land of Egypt ; but, Jehovah liveth that brought 
up the children of Israel from the land of the north, 
and from all the lands whither he had driven them : 
and I will bring them again into their land that I gave 



TO THE DESCENDANTS OF ISRAEL. V 

unto their fathers. For mine eyes are upon all their 
ways : they are not hid from my face : — and they shall 
know that my name is Jehovah." Jer. xvi. 14, 15, 17, 
21. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 
Reasons for examining the Hebrew Records of the Messiah. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Messiah announced by Malachi, as Adonai, even Melach, the Mes- 
senger of the Covenant — His appearance to Jacob at Bethel ; and to 
Isaiah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and others, under various designa- 
tions, as Adonai, Melach, a Man, Jehovah Zebaoth, the Holy One, 
El-Shadai, <fcc. 

CHAPTER III. 

Reasons for rendering the formula " Melach Jehovah," the Messenger 
(who is) Jehovah ; and not the Angel, or an Angel of the Lord. 

C HAP T E R IV. 
Visible Appearance of the Messenger Jehovah to Hagar. 

CHAPTER V. 

No visible Divine Appearances ever made except of the Messiah, the 
Mediator in all the Relations of God to the World. 

C HAP T E R VI. 
Appearances of the Messenger Jehovah to Abraham and to Jacob. 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

References to various Appearances of Jehovah and Elohim to the 
Patriarchs. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the Doctrines, Worship, and Faith of those earliest mentioned in 
Scripture — Reference to the History of Moses, Noah, Joshua. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Narrative concerning Job. 

CHAPTER X. 

Further notice of Divine Manifestations to Abraham and Jacob — Mys- 
teriousness attending the Divine Appearance — The visible Form 
always like that of Man. 

C HAP T E R XI. 
Of the official Person and Relations of the Messiah. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Local and visible Manifestations, Intercourse and Instructions, as cha- 
racterizing the primeval and Mosaic Dispensations — Local Presence 
of the Messenger Jehovah in the Tabernacle. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Of the Chaldee Paraphrasts — Their method of designating the Per- 
sonal Word or Revealer — Occasion and Necessity of it. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Citations from the Chaldee Paraphrases. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Reasons of the Failure of the modern Versions of the Scriptures to 
exhibit clearly the Hebrew designations of the Messiah — The Maso- 
relic Punctuation — Reference to the term Melach and the formula 
Melach Jehovah. 



CONTENTS. 



C HAP T E R X VI. 



Continuation of the subject of the preceding Chapter — Combined influ- 
ence of Rabbinical and figurative Interpretations — German method 
of Hebrew study — Preposterous notion of the inadequacy of Lan- 
guage as a Vehicle of Thought. 

- CHAPTER XVII. 

Relation of the Antagonism between the Messiah and the great Adver- 
sary to the local, personal, and visible Manifestations of the former — 
Modes of Visibility on the part of the latter, through human agents 
and various instrumentalities. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Illustration of the subject of the last Chapter, exhibiting the Antago- 
nism as carried on by visible agencies, instrumentalities, and events, 
in the plagues of Egypt and at the Red Sea. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Further Illustration of the Antagonism — Idolatry a Counterfeit Rival 
System in opposition to the Messiah and the True Worship — Its Origin 
and Nature — Satan the God of it — The Tower of Babel devoted to 
his Worship — That Worship extended thence over the Earth at the 
Dispersion. 

CHAPTER XX. 

The system of Idolatry founded on a perversion of the Doctrine of 
Mediation — References to the Worshippers of Baal, Israelite and 
Pagan. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Idolatry an imposing and delusive Counterfeit of the Revealed System, 
in respect to the leading features of its Ritual, and the prerogatives 
ascribed to the Arch-deceiver — Reference to the Symbols of the 
Apocalypse. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

On the question, now it has happened, since the origin of the Nieeno 
Creed, that the Old Testament has been understood to ascribe the 
Creation, not to the Christ, but to the Father? 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Continuation of the subject of the foregoing Chapter — Reference to the 
Heresies, respecting the Creator, of the three first and ensuing cen- 
turies. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Subject of the last Chapter continued — Results of the earliest and most 
prevalent Heresies. 

C HAP T E R XXV. 

The great Antagonism — in what manner will it terminate ? 

NOTES. 

A — Relating to the Exposition of the Apocalypse, by D. N. Lord. 
B — The primary ground of Mediation, <fcc. 
C — Omitted from page 21, after 2d paragraph. 



. THE MESSIAH 



MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 



THE MESSIAH 



MOSES AND THE PROPHETS, 



CHAPTER L 

Reasons for examining the Hebrew Records of the Messiah. 

It is said of the Messiah, in a discourse with two of 
his disciples, that " Beginning at Moses, and all the pro- 
phets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the 
things concerning himself." And subsequently : "These 
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet 
with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were 
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in 
the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their 
understandings, that they might understand the Scrip- 
tures." On another occasion he said: "Search the 
Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal life : 
and they are they which testify of me." And again: 
" Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me ; 
for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, 
how shall ye believe my words?" 

At his advent he was, pursuant to a prediction of 
Isaiah, called Immanu-El, God with us. In conformity 



16 THE MESSIAH 

with another prediction, it was the office of his fore- 
runner to prepare the way of Jehovah.— #ie Lord. And 
an angel announced to the shepherds : " Unto you is born 
a Saviour, which is -Christ the Lord, " {Jehovah.) ' ' Philip 
saith to Nathaniel, We hAve, found him of whom Moses 
in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Naz- 
areth." 

"We should naturally infer from these passages that 
the delegated official Person, Jesus, the Christ, was the 
theme of the Old Testament Scriptures ; that his official 
agency and relations were there continuously and amply 
treated of; that his complex character, his divine pre- 
rogatives, his prophetical, sacerdotal and regal offices, 
his works as Creator, Lawgiver, and Euler, and his 
relations as Covenanter and Eedeemer, were there con- 
spicuously set forth, and were the recognized and ac- 
knowledged objects of the faith and trust of patriarchs, 
prophets, .and all true worshippers. 

And such undoubtedly was the case. He was the 
Jehovah of the Old Testament ; the Elohe of the patri- 
archs and of Israel; the Angel or Messenger Jehovah,, 
the Jehovah Zebaoth, the Adonai, the Messiah of the 
ancient dispensations. Under these and other designa- 
tions Moses, the psalmists, and the- proph'ets wrote of 
him ; saw, acknowledged, and believed in him ; wor- 
shipped and praised him in the tabernacle and temple ; 
recognized and obeyed him as their Lawgiver, and 
trusted, in hjim as their Saviour. 

Their faith rested on him as the present object of their 
homage and trust, asserting his prerogatives, dispensing 
his benefits, and in all his relations exerting his official 
agency. They regarded him not merely as he was typi- 
fied, but as he then manifested himself and executed 
his offices. In some respects his future manifestations, 



LN". MOSES AND THE PJROPHETS. . 17 

and especially his sufferings and death for the expiation 
•of sin, were vividly prefigured by typical rites, and were 
' objects 6f their faith ; but in other respects, as their 
Me'dfetop, Prophet, Lawgiver, Priest', and Ring, he was 
the present object of their homage, faith, love, and obe- 
dience. The faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, 
and their successors, embraced his person and his offi- 
cial prerogatives and works, and was therefore effectual 
unto justification, precisely as that of believers under the 
.present dispensation, who are therefore described as 
walking in the steps of that faith of Abraham which 
was counted for righteousness. The faith which was in- 
strumental in his justification was the exemplar alike of 
that of all believers under the ancient, and of those 
under the present dispensation. . ^To him the patriarchs 
er< scted altars and offered sacrifices and prayers, aridfrom 
him received gifts and promises. To him the minis- 
terial offices and typical services of the Levitical priest- 
hood had immediate reference.. In the tabernacle and 
temple, as Prophet, Priest, and King, he instructed 
tin 'in. prescribed their worship and obedience; and as 
their present Lawgiver and Euler, exercised over them 
his providential and moral government. 

All this is implied, indeed, in the facts that the Church 
of that and the present day is the same ; that the method 
of salvation through faith in him was the same then as 
now ; and that he was the Saviour and Mediator alike then 
and at present: and otherwise it i£ not perceived how an 
intelligible or satisfactory answer can be given to the 
questions, How did he exercise the office of Mediator 
under the ancient economy? What agency did he ex- 
ercise towards lii< people? How did he exemplify his 
offices of Prophet, Priest, and King? A reference to 
tip- designations 1>\ which he was recognized, and the 



18 THE MESSIAH 

acts ascribed to him in connection with those designa- 
tions, will supply the appropriate answer. If it was He 
who appeared in a form like that of man to Abraham, 
in the plains of Mamre, walked and conversed with him 
as a man, and heard the prayers addressed directly to 
him on behalf of the righteous dwelling in Sodom ; and 
who, under various designations, appeared in the same 
form to Jacob, to Moses, to Balaam, to Joshua, to Gideon, 
to Manoah, to David, and others; then may we safely 
conclude that, under the like designations, he was famil- 
iarly known and worshipped throughout the patriarchal 
and Levitical dispensations. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Messiah announced by Malachi, as Adonai, even Melach, the Mes- 
senger of the Covenant — His Appearance to Jacob at Bethel ; and to 
Isaiah, Abraham, Moses, Gideon, and others, under various designa- 
tions, as Adonai, Melach, a Man, Jehovah Zebaoth, the Holy One, 
El-Shaddai, Ac. 

It will be seen that the designations referred to in- 
clude all those which are applied to the Divine Being : 
and that in numerous instances they are applied inter- 
changeably in the same passages and connections, in such 
manner as clearly to show that they identify the same 
Person. Thus the words El, Elohe, Elohim, translated 
God ; and Jah, Jehovah, Adon, and Adonai, translated 
Lord, are, separately, and also in conjunction with Mc- 
lach, Angel or Messenger, and with other names of office, 
employed to designate and identify that delegated Per- 
son who is "both Lord (Jehovah) and Christ." 



IN MOSES AJSD THE PROPHETS. 19 

In demonstration of this, we may first refer to some 
passages in which the appellative Melach, the primary 
signification of which is Messenger, occurs, as a designa- 
tion of him who was sent of the Father; as Malachi iii. 1 : 
" Behold, I send my messenger, [John the Baptist,] and 
he shall prepare the way before me; and the Adon whom 
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even Melach, 
the Messenger, of the Covenant, whom ye delight in: 
behold, he shall come, saith Jehovah Zebaoth." And 
Isaiah 1. 3, 5 : "The voice of him that crieth in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight 
in the desert a highway for our Elohe. . . . And the glory 
of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it 
together, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it." 

These prophecies are quoted by the Evangelists as 
identifying Jesus the Christ. See Matthew iii. 1-6; 
xi. 10; Mark i. 2-4; Luke iii. 3-6; John i. 6-8. 
They point to John as he who was spoken of by 
these prophets, and as proclaiming in the wilder- 
ness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah. He whose way 
was prepared was therefore the Messenger of the Cov- 
enant, the Adon, the Elohim, and the Jehovah — the dele- 
gated official Person to whom these several designations 
are applied in the predictions. That official Person was 
the Revealer, as well as the subject of the ancient reve- 
lations ; and, as will hereafter be more particularly 
noticed, manifested himself in different aspects and 
relations of his official work, and in those diverse re- 
often spoke predictively (as at the close of each 
of the above passages) and otherwise, to and of him- 
self. 

The same conclusions result from a passage in the 
narrative of Jacob's j ourncy from Padan-aram to Shechem, 
Gen. xxxii., taken in connection with the reference to 



20 THE MESSIAH 

it by the prophet Hosea: "And Jacob was left alone ; 
and there wrestled a maw with him until the breaking of 
the day. . . . And he said, Thy name shall be called no 
more Jacob, but Israel : for as a prince hast thou power with 
Elohim and with men, and hast prevailed. . . .. And he 
blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place 
Peniel : for I have seen Elohim face to face." Hosea', 
referring to Jacob, chap, xii., says: " He had power with 
Elohim ; yea, he had power over the angel, [Melach, the 
Messenger,'] and prevailed ; he wept and made supplica- 
tion unto him: he found him in Beth-El, and there he 
spake with us ; even Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth— Jehovah 
is his memorial." Here the God-man, the only Divine 
Person who, under the ancient or present dispensation, 
has ever manifested himself visibly in the likeness of 
man, is seen face to face by Jacob, and is denominated' 
Elohim, the Messenger, the Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth, 
whose peculiar designation is Jehovah. . Accordingly, 
Hosea says of Melach, the Messenger, that Jacob made 
supplication unto him: -he found him in Beth-El, indi- 
cating that it was in the place which he named Beth-El 
that he first recognized the official acting administrator 
of providence and grace, the God-man, in the relations 
in which he then appeared to him. The. passage spe- 
cially referred to by the prophet in relation to Beth-El 
is in Gen. xxviii., where Jacob's flight to Padan-aram, 
to avoid the wrath of Esau, is narrated. On his way 
he slept in the open field, and beheld in a dream a ladder 
extending from earth to heaven. "And behold ! Jehovah 
stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah Elohe of Abra- ■ 
ham, and Elohe of Isaac, &c. And Jacob awoke and said, 
Surely Jehovah is in this place: . . . this is the house of 
Elohim." The Messenger therefore to whom Jacob made 
supplication, and whom he first saw at Beth-El, was Jeho- 



IX MOSES AOT) THE PEOPHETS. 21 

vah.-the Elohe of Abraham and Isatic, even 'Jehovah 
^•l.ohe Zebaoth. • 

sow by another instance that He who in the 
ancieuo oracles is called Adon, Adonai, and Jehovah 
Zebaoth, is in the New Testament referred to as the 
Christ, Isaiah vi. may be cited. 1 saw, says the prophet, 
"the Adonai sitting upon a throne." "Then said I, 
Woe is me ! ... for mine eyes have seen the King, Je- 
hovah Zebaoth." The apostle John, chap, xii, ascribes 
what was announced at this scene to Christ, and adds : 
"These things said Esaias when he saw his glory and 
spake of him." 

With respect to the point now particularly in view, 
the Scriptures quoted above render it certain that the 
Divine Person who by Malachi is called the Messenger 
of the Covenant, and the Adonai, and by Hosea, the 
Messenger, Elohim, and Jehovah, is identical with Jesus 
the Christ. 

Illustrations might be adduced, from4he New Testa- 
ment to -show that the apostles understood the. Messiah 
and the Messenger Jehovah to be the same Person. 
Thus, Galatians iv. 14: "Ye received mc as an angel of 
God, even as Christ Jesus ;" where the rendering, in our 
own and other versions, " an angel," corresponds with 
the erroneous usage so common in the Old Testament. 
The meaning is: Ye received me with respect and con- 
fidence, as ye would have received the Melach, the Mes- 
senger Jebovah, even Jesus the Messiah. For undoubt- 
edly, had a created angel been referred to, a comparison 
would not have been made placing the Messiah on a level 
with him. The instances in the New Testarnent in which 
the Angel Jehovah is referred to, though unhappily not 
discriminated in our translation, are from the context 
easily distinguishable. See Acts vii. 30, 35, 38. 



22 THE MESSIAH 

The word A donai occurs as a Divine designation several 
hundred times in the Old Testament, chiefly in the form 
indicated above, but sometimes simply Adon. It is often 
emplo}*ed in connections which clearly show it to be a 
personal designation of the Messiah, and which assert 
or imply his official prerogatives, agency, or relations. 
It is employed interchangeably with Jehovah, JElohim, 
and other Divine designations, sometimes preceding and 
at others following them; sometimes with, but more 
commonly without the article. 

In the second of the above forms, this word is com- 
monly, like the secular English title lord, applied to 
men in the relation of masters or rulers; as Melach is 
applied to men to distinguish them officially as mes- 
sengers. And as our own, in common with other trans- 
lators, failed to mark the distinction between the use 
of the word Melach, as a designation of the Messiah, 
and the use of it with reference to created agents, human 
or angelic, so they seem to have regarded the words Adonai 
and Adon as importing something inferior to the Divine 
designations of Jehovah and Elohim; which difference 
the}- indicate by uniformly writing their translation of 
the former words in small letters, and their translation 
of the latter in capitals. 

Whatever impression or inference may result from 
this usage to the English reader, or to the Israelite who 
reads the original under the same views which influenced 
the translation, it is by no means probable that either of 
them would infer, or be struck with the impression, that 
Adonai was a distinctive and familiar title of the dele- 
gated One, the Messiah, of correlative and equivalent 
significance as a Divine designation with those with 
which it is indifferently and interchangeably employed. 
For the further illustration of this point, therefore, the 
following passages are cited: 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 23 

In Gen. xviii., we read that Jehovah appeared visibly 
to Abraham in the likeness of man, i. e., in the delegated 
official Person, Messiah. In what is related in the nar- 
rative as having been said or done by him, while visibly 
present, he is called Jehovah ; while Abraham, in speak- 
ing to him, uniformly calls him Adonai, prays to him as 
having power to save the righteous in Sodom, and ad- 
dresses him as Judge of all the earth. It is therefore 
manifest that the two designations, Jehovah and Adonai, 
identify the same Person ; that Abraham speaks to him 
as visibly present; and that his visible presence in the 
likeness of man determines him to have been the dele- 
gated One. At the close of their interview, "Jehovah 
went his way, and Abraham returned to his place." 

When the personal Word came to Abram, Gen. xv., 
saying, Fear not, I am thy shield, &c, Abram, reply- 
ing, verse 2, calls him Adonai Jehovah, and also in 
verse 8 ; while in verses 4, 6, 7, and 18, he calls him 
Jehovah. Instances like that in chap, xviii., and others, 
would seem to indicate that in cases of local visible 
manifestation of the personal Word, designations spe- 
cially appropriate to his official character and agency 
were suggested to the minds of the beholders. Thus 
Moses, Exod. iv. 10, " said unto Jehovah, Adonai." 
The Person whom he addressed was the Messenger Je- 
hovah, who had appeared to him. Again, verse 13, he 
says: "0 Adonai." In other parts of that chapter, the 
same Person is called Jehovah, Elohim, and Elohe. In 
Moses' song, chap. xv. 17, Jehovah (that is, the Mes- 
senger ') and the Adonai arc addressed as the same Per- 
son: "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the 
mountain of thine inheritance; in the place, Jehovah, 
which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the 
sanctuary, O Adonai, which thy hands have estab- 



24 THE MESSIAH 

lished." So, chap, xxxiv., when Jehovah (the Mes- 
senger) descended and manifested the glory of his 
Person to Moses, and proclaimed himself Jehovah as 
he passed by, Moses bowed and worshipped; and he 
said : "If now I have found grace in thy sight, Adonai, 
let Adonai, I pray thee, go among us." In like manner, 
Deut. iii. 23, 24, Moses, praying to Jehovah, addressee 
the Adonai: "And I besought Jehovah at that time, 
saying, O Adonai Jehovah/. . . I pray thee let me go 
over and' see the good land." Also, chap. ix. 26 : "I 
prayed therefore unto Jehovah, and said, O Adonai 
Jehovah, destroy not thy people, and thine inheritance 
Which thou hast redeemed." Once more, when, after 
the trespass of Achan, the Israelites were smitten, Joshua 
fell upon his face before the ark of Jehovah, and said : 
"Alas! Adonai Jehovah. . . . O Adonai, what shall 
I say," &c. Similar instances occur in the prayers of 
Gideon, Manoah, David, and the prophets ; and through- 
out their writings, as in the instances quoted, doubtless 
this term designates the Messenger of the Covenant, the 
Holy One, the Christ; and whether sometimes substi- 
tuted by copyists for the word Jehovah or not, its import 
is the same, as appears from the connections in which it 
occurs. 

At the interview of the same Divine Person with 
Gideon, Judges vi., he is called Melach Jehovah, Je- 
hovah, Adonai, Melach the Elohim, and Adonai Jehovah 
Melach Jehovah came and sat under an oak — appeared 
visibly — and said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee. 
Gideon replied, O Adonai, if Jehovah be with us, &c. 
Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, 
Gideon answered, Adonai, wherewith shall I save 
Israel? Jehovak said, Surely I will be with thee. 
Gideon prepared a sacrifice. Melach the Elohim said, 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 25 

Take the flesh, &c. Melach Jehovah touched the flesh 
with his staff. Fire rose out of the rock and consumed 
the flesh. Melach Jehovah departed out of Gideon's 
sight. Gideon exclaimed, Alas, O Adonai Jehovah ! for 
I have seen Melach Jehovah face to face. Jehovah .said 
unto him, Peace be unto thee. 

The purport of the expressions in this narrative may 
be more full}?- represented as follows : The Melach, (the 
Messenger,) who is Jehovah, came in the form of a way- 
faring man, and sat down under an oak in a field where 
Gideon was, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee. 
And Gideon said to him, (Jehovah,) Adonai, &c. 
Jehovah looked upon him and said, Go in this thy 
might, &c. Gideon said to him, O Adonai, wherewith shall 
I save Israel ? Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be 
with thee. Gideon presented a sacrifice to him. The 
Melach, (or Messenger,) who is the true Elohim, said to 
Gideon, Take the flesh, &c.,' and lay them upon this rock, 
and he did so. Then the Melach, (or Messenger,) who 
is Jehovah, put forth the end of the staff that was in his 
hand, and touched the flesh, &c. ; and there rose up fire 
out of the rock and consumed the flesh, &c. Gideon 
said, Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for I have seen the 
Melach, who is Jehovah, face to face. To which Jehovah 
replied, Peace be unto thee ; fear not, &c. Then Gideon 
built an altar there unto Jehovah. 

So in the narrative of the visible appearance of the 
same Divine Person to Manoah and his wife, Judges 
xiii., where, as in the foregoing and other parallel in- 
stances, the term Melach distinguishes the Divine Person 
referred to as present and seen. The Melach (who is) 
Jehovah appeared unto the woman, &c. The woman 
came and told her husband, saying, A man, the Elohim, 
came unto me, and his countenance was like the coun- 
2 



26 THE MESSIAH 

tenance of the Melach (who is) the Elohim, &c. Then 
Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, O Adon, let the 
man, the Elohim which thou didst send, come again unto 
us. . . . And the Elohim hearkened to the voice of 
Manoah, and the Melach, the (or who is the) Elohim, came 
again unto the woman as she sat in the field. . . . And 
she ran and said to her husband, Behold the man hath ap- 
peared unto me that came unto me the other day. . . . 
And Manoah came and said unto him, Art thou the man 
that spakest unto the woman ? And he said, I am. . . . 
And the Melach (who is) Jehovah said unto Manoah, 
Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. And 
Manoah said to the Melach (who is) Jehovah, I pray thee, 
let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid 
for thee. And the Melach (who is) Jehovah said unto 
Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy 
bread : and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must 
offer it unto Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was 
the Melach (who is) Jehovah. ... So Manoah took a 
kid, with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto 
Jehovah. And ... it came to pass, when the flame 
went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the Me- 
lach (who is) Jehovah ascended in the flame of the 
altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and fell on 
their faces to the ground, &c. Then Manoah knew that 
he was the Melach (who is) Jehovah. And Manoah 
said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have 
seen Elohim. But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah 
were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a 
burnt-offering at our hands, &c. Nothing surely can be 
more evident than that all these designations refer to the 
one delegated official Person — Messiah, the Messenger 
of the Covenant, visible in the form of man. 

Behold, the Adon, Jehovah Zebaoth, doth take away 



IX .MOSES AJSD THE PROPHETS. 27 

from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, 
<kc. Isa. iii. 1. 

Therefore shall the Adon, Adonai Zebaoth, send, &c. 
Isa. x. 16. 

Behold, the Adon, Jehovah Zebaoth, shall lop the 
bough, &c. Isa. x. 33. 

Thou (Abiathar) bearest the ark of Adonai Jehovah. 
1 Kings ii. 26. 

Thou art my Elohe and my Adonai. Ps. xxxv. 23. 

To Jehovah Adonai belong the issues from death. Ps. 
lxviii. 20. 

Let not them that wait on thee, Adonai, Jehovah 
Zebaoth, be ashamed. Ps. lxix. 6. 

Thou art my hope, Adonai Jehovah. Ps. lxxi. 5. 

But do thou for me, O Jehovah Adonai, for thy 
name's sake. Ps. cix. 21. 

Jehovah Adonai, the strength of my salvation. 
Ps. cxl. 7. 

Mine eyes are unto thee, Jehovah Adonai. Ps. 
cxli. 8. 

The phrases "Thus saith Adonai Jehovah Zebaoth," 
'Adonai Jehovah," and "Adonai Zebaoth," occur in very 
numerous instances in the prophets. Probably in all 
such formulas the sense would be more perfectly ex- 
pressed by interposing the words who is, or who art : 
as, The Adon who is Jehovah of hosts; Ihe Adon who is 
the Adonai of hosts; Thearkof Adonai, who is Jehovah. 
It is evidently by way of explanation, illustration, and 
emphasis, that two or more designations arc so conjoined. 

Some critics, probably from regarding the terms 
Adonai and Adon as of inferior significance to Jehovah 
and I'JIohiiii, when employed as Divine designations, 
imagine thai the Jewish copyists substituted the former 
in place of the Latter, oi in place of Jehovah, to avoid the 



2S THE MESSIAH 

enunciation of that sacred name. No supposition could 
well be more improbable than this, whether considered 
in relation to the subject-matter, or to the reason assigned 
for it. In relation to the subject, it would imply a 
general consent among copyists, Jewish readers, priests 
and rabbies, and Gentile proselytes, as to the instances 
in which such a surreptitious change should be made, 
received, and sanctioned. And as to the alleged reason, 
if it was a real and sufficient reason in a single instance, 
or in many instances, why not in all ? Why suppress 
the fearful name, and substitute a term of inferior or 
doubtful import in some cases, and allow it to retain its 
place in a far greater number of cases ? But the ground- 
lessness of the supposition referred to is sufficiently shown 
by the fact that, in the passages above cited, and in 
many others, the several designations, Adonai, Adon, 
Jehovah, and Elohim, are employed conjointly in the 
same sentences, with reference to the same Person, and 
as of equivalent import as Divine designations. 

The same Divine Person, the Messiah, the Adminis' 
trator and Revealer, manifested himself to the inspired 
writers in various ways, and in different aspects of his 
person and relations : to their faith as the self-existent, 
omnipresent Jehovah ; to their senses in his complex, 
official person, and delegated, covenant relations, the 
Messenger, visible in the likeness of man, Adonai, the 
Adon. 

Thus Daniel, chap. x. 16, 17 : " One like the similitude 
of the sons of men touched my lips ; then I opened my 
mouth and spake, and said unto him that stood before 
me, O Adonai ! . . . . how can the servant of this 
Adonai talk with this Adonai?" And Amos, chap, vii., 
relates that he saw tlie Adonai standing on a wall, with 
•' plumb-line in his hand, and that the Adonai spoke to 



IN MOSES AND THE PBOPHETS. 29 

and was answered by him. The context shows that, 
though appearing visibly as a man, he exercised Divine 
prerogatives. Again, chap. ix. 1 : "I saw the Adonai 
standing upon the altar." Afterwards he sj)eaks as Je- 
hovah, and, verse 16, utters the prediction, quoted Acts 
xv. 16, that, after the Gentile dispensation, " I will re- 
turn and will build again the tabernacle of David which 
is fallen clown, . . . and I will set it up." 

In the first chapter of Zechariah the following Divine 
designations occur : Jehovah, Jehovah Zebaoth, Adonai, 
the Melach, and Melach Jehovah. The Person locally 
present and visible, who in the 9th verse is called Adonai 
and the Melach, in the 11th and 12th verses Melach 
Jehovah, and in the 18th, 11th, and 19th verses the 
Melach', is in the 8th and 10th verses called a man. I 
saw by night and behold, a man . . . among the myrtle 
trees, v. 8. And the man that stood among the myrtle 
trees answered, v. 9. And they answered the Melach Je- 
hovah that stood among the myrtle trees, v. 11. 

Bat the prophet on seeing the man, v. 8, addresses 
him as Adonai. "Then said I, Adonai! what are 
these?" And the Melach answered, &c. v. 9. In the 
progress of the ensuing collocpay, the visible Person, in 
the form of man, the Melach, the Melach who is Jehovah, 
speaks to and of Jehovah and Jehovah Zebaoth, as the 
Messiah did when visibly present incarnate in man's 
nature on earth ; and an audible response was in like 
manner given. See v. 10, 12, 13. 

Illustrations of the same usage might be adduced from 
almost every pari of the Old Testament, where the 
Messiah, as announced by designations peculiar to his 
complex official Person mid character, and as visibly 
present, speaks to and of himself, and also to and of 
the Father, under designations which refer onlv to the 



30 THE MESSIAH 

Divine Nature. The same is customary likewise with 
the prophets. Thus David, Ps. ex.: "Jehovah (the 
Father) saith to Adonai, (the Messiah, as is declared in 
the New Testament,) Sit thou at my right hand,'' &c. 
And Ps. ii. : Why do the heathen rage ? . . . and the 
rulers take counsel against Jehovah and against the An- 
ointed, or Messiah, v. 1, 2. The Adonai shall have them 
in derision, v. 4. I (the Messiah) will declare the decree : 
Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, &c., v. 7. 

The exceeding confusion which obscures our common 
version of Zechariah, and especially of the first chapter, 
implies that the translators did not understand the des- 
ignations above quoted, a man, the Melach, Melach Jeho- 
vah, and Adonai, as referring to one and the same per- 
son, nor all or any of them as referring to the official 
Person, Messiah. 

In chapter ii., the Melach is the Divine speaker 
throughout: "And behold the Melach that talked with 
me (see i. 9) went forth, and another angel (a messenger) 
went out to meet him ; and He (the Melach) said unto 
him, (i. e., to the messenger,) Eun," &c. v. 3, 4. Here, 
according to our version, the other angel is made to 
direct the Melach who is Jehovah (see i. 9, 11, 12) to 
run, &c, by the omission of the relative He, as printed 
in capitals above ; which, it is obvious from the original, 
and also from the ensuing context, ought to be retained. 
For after directing the approaching messenger to run, 
&c, lie proceeds : " For I, saith Jehovah, will be unto 
her, Jerusalem, a wall of fire round about, and will be the 
glory in the midst of her:" the reference of which is 
further evidence that the speaker is the Messiah, here 
designated the Melach and Jehovah. The same speaker, 
continuing to the end of the chapter, treats of the dis- 
persion, preservation, and subsequent restoration of the 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 81 

Israelites, and reestablishrnent of Jerusalem as his 
dwelling-place. 

Throughout the remainder of the book, the Divine 
Person speaking to the prophet is the same as the man, 
the Melach, the Adonai, the Melach Jehovah, of the first 
chapter. He announces what is said by Jehovah, and 
Jehovah Zebaoth ; his rebuke of Satan, hi. 2 ; his 
promise of The Branch, referring to the Messiah as he 
was to be manifested incarnate, hi. 8, and vi. 12. In 
various places the prophet designates the Melach, and 
Jehovah as his Adonai, and as the Adon of the whole 
earth, iv. 4, 5, 13, 14 ; vi. 4, 5 ; ix. 4. Adonai Jehovah, 
ix. 14, and Jehovah their Elohe, ix. 16, x. 6, declares 
that the man whose name is The Branch shall build 
the temple of Jehovah, and shall sit and rule upon his 
throne, and shall be a Priest upon his throne, &c., vi. 
12, 13. That it was Jehovah who was prized at thirty 
pieces of silver, i. e., Jehovah saj^s of himself, as Mes- 
siah, that he was so prized, xi. 13. Eepresents Elohim 
and Melach Jehovah as equivalent ; identifies Jehovah 
Zebaoth with the Shepherd, the man that is his fellow, 
xiii. 7. Jehovah whose feet shall stand upon the mount 
of Olives which is before Jerusalem, xiv. 4. Jehovah 
who shall be King over all the earth, xiv. 9. The King- 
Jehovah Zebaoth, whom all nations shall worship. 

The term Zebaoth, Hosts, coupled with the Divine 
tations, points to the official Person, the Messiah, 
evidently in many, and probably in all instances. Thus 
Be who, in Isaiah vi., is called Adonai, the King, Je- 
hovah Zebaoth, is by the apostle John referred to as 
the Messiah. He who wrestled with Jacob as a man, 
s xii., is called by nosea (chap, xii.) the Messenger, 
and Jehovah Elohe Zebaoth. It was the Messiah who, 
with Moses, was with the church in the wilderness. 



32 THE MESSIAH 

(Acts vii. 38.) The Melach, or Messenger, who dwelt in 
the cloud and between the cherubim, (Exod. xiv. 19,) 
over the ark of Adonai (who is) Jehovah. (Isa. iii. 15.) 
The ark of the Elohim (who is) Jehovah that dwelleth 
between the cherubim. (1 Chron. xiii. 6.) The ark of 
the Elohim, whose name is Jehovah Zebaoth. (2 Samuel 
vi. 2.) The Adon (who is) Jehovah Zebaoth. (Isa. iii. 
1.) The Adon (who is) Adonai Zebaoth. (Isa. x. 16.) 
The Adonai (who is) Jehovah Zebaoth. (Isa. x. 23, 24.) 

This term is coupled with these designations more 
than three hundred times, chiefly in the prophets, after 
the defection of the tribes to the worship of Baal as 
the Lord of the hosts of heaven, in opposition to Je- 
hovah Zebaoth. 

A personal reference to the Messiah is evidently in- 
tended in numerous instances by the term rendered in 
our version Holy One; as is often • manifest from its 
connection with other designations, and from the per- 
sonal acts or relations mentioned. Thus Isaiah xliii.: 
" I am Jehovah, thy Elohe, the Holy One of Israel, thy 
Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom. Fear not, for 
I am with thee. (v. 3.) Thus saith Jehovah, your 
Redeemer, [Goel,] the Holy One of Israel, (v. 14,) I am 
Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, }-our 
King," (15.) Chap. xli. 14: "I will help thee, saith 
Jehovah, thy Redeemer, [Goel,] the Holy One of Israel." 
v. 20: "The hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the 
Holy One of Israel hath created it." xlvii. 4: "As for 
our Redeemer, [Goel,] Jehovah Zebaoth is his name, the 
Holy One of Israel." xlviii. 17: "Thus saith Jehovah, 
thy Redeemer, [Goel,] the Holy One of Israel, I am Je- 
hovah thy Elohe, which teacheth thee to profit, which 
leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." xlix. 
7: "Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer [Goel] of Israel, 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 33 



his Holy One. 11 liv. 5 : " Thy Maker is thy husband, 
Jehovah Zebaoth is his name, and thy Redeemer, [Goel,] 
the Holy One of Israel; the Elohe of the whole earth 
shall he be called." Is. 14: " They shall call- thee, The 
city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." 
2 Kings xix. : " Whom hast thou reproached and 
blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy 
voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high ? even against 
the Holy One of Israel. By thy messengers thou hast 
reproached Adonai." Ezek. xxxix. 7: "The heathen 
shalL know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel.' 
Ps. Ixxxix. 18, 19: "Jehovah is our defence, and the 
Holy One of Israel is our King. Then thou spakest in 
vision to thy Holy One. 11 

That "The Holy One," "Jehovah," and "The Mes- 
siah," are the same, is taught in various other passages. 
Thus in the first instance in which the title occurs, Deut. 
xxxiii. 8, constituting in part the blessing on the sacer- 
dotal tribe, and containing a reference to other passages : 
" And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim 
be with thy Holy One, whom thou didst prove at Mas- 
sah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of 
Meribah." But He whom they proved atMassah, and 
with whom they strove at Meribah, was Jehovah. "And 
Moses called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, 
because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and 
because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah 
among us or not?" Exod. xvii. 7. "Ye shall not 
tempi Jehovah your Elohe, as ye tempted him in Mas- 
sah." Deut. vi. 1G. "This is the water of Meribah, 
because the children of Israel strove with Jehovah." 
Numb. xx. 13. "At . . . Massah ... ye provoked 
Jehovah to wrath." Deut. ix. 22. Now, we learn 
from 1 Cor. x. and Hob. iii., compared with Ps. lxxviii., 
2* 



84 THE MESSIAH 

% 

xcv., and cvi., that it was the Messiah whom they tempted : 
''Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also 
tempted." . . . "Harden not your hearts as in the pro- 
vocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, 
where your fathers tempted me ;" that is, Christ, as the 
context shows. 

" Thou wilt not suffer thine Holy One to see corrup- 
tion/' Ps. xvi. 10 ; quoted with the context, Acts ii., as 
designating Christ: "For David speaketh concerning 
Him," Jesus of Nazareth, " I foresaw the Lord always 

before my face Neither wilt thou suffer thine 

Holy One to see corruption." Again, Acts xiii., in proof 
of the resurrection of Christ as predicted: "Where- 
fore he saith also in another Psalm, Thou shalt not 
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." So the Christ 
is recognized in various other passages as the Holy One. 
" I know thee Avho thou art, the Holy One of God." 
Mark i. 24, Luke iv. 34. " But ye denied the Holy One 
and the Just, . . . and killed the Prince of Life." Acts 
iii. 14. 

Of the passages, besides those above cited, in which 
he is identified with Jehovah, the Creator, the Redeemer, 
Saviour, and King, a few are subjoined. The remnant 
of Israel "shall stay upon Jehovah, the Holy One 
of Israel."* Isaiah x. 20. "At that day shall a man 
look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to 
the Holy One of Israel." Ibid. 17. " Thus saith the 
Holy One of Israel. . . . Thus saith Jehovah Elohim, 
the Holy One of Israel." Ibid. 30. "The hand of Je- 
hovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath 
created it." Ibid. 41. " Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy 
One of Israel, and his Maker." Ibid. 45. 

It is thus evident that the appellations, Jehovah, Elo- 
him, Elohe, Jehovah Zebaoth, Redeemer, Saviour, King, 



IN MOSES AKD THE PROPHETS. 85 

Creator, Maker, the Holy One, and the Christ, are in- 
differently applied to designate one and the same Person. 
The term Messiah, the Anointed, though familiar to 
the Jews of ancient and modern times, occurs but a few 
times in the Hebrew Scriptures as a designation of him. 
The appropriation of the term seems to have arisen from 
the custom of anointing the Levitical priests to a min- 
istry typical of the sacerdotal ministry of Christ, and that 
of anointing their kings to their office as typical of his 
regal office. With reference to those priests and kings 
it is therefore often used; but as a designation of the 
Christ not perhaps more than five or six times: as 
in 1 Sam. ii. 10, 85 ; Ps. ii. 2, lxxxiv. 9 ; Dan. ix. 
25, 26. The import of the phrase "Holy One" is so 
nearly similar, as very probably to have been employed 
in place of this. This designation occurs in about thirty 
instances in the prophecies of Isaiah, and frequently 
elsewhere. Like several other appellations, it is employed 
exclusively as a designation of the Christ, and is not, 
like "Messiah," applied to those who are anointed and 
consecrated to typify his offices. 

El-Shadai, Almighty, in like manner designates the 
Messiah. The Messenger Jehovah who appeared to 
Moses in the bush, and who speaking to him afterwards 
is called Jehovah and Elohim, said, Exod. vi. 3 : "I 
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, 
by the name El-Shadai." " Jacob said unto Joseph, El- 
Shadai appeared unto me at Luz, . . . and blessed 
me." Gen. xlviii. 3. But when he was first at Luz, 
Jehovah visibly appeared to him in the vision of a ladder. 
Gen. xxviii. It was an appearance doubtless of the 
Messenger Jehovah. And in a subsequent instance, 
Gen. xxxv., the Elohim appeared to him, blessed him, 
and changed his name to Israel. "And the Elohim said 



86 THE MESSIAH 

unto him, 1 am El-Shadai. . . . And the Elohim went 
up from him in the place where he talked with him." 
This, therefore, was a local personal appearance of the 
Messenger of the Covenant. Shadai was a familiar de- 
signation in the patriarchal period. It occurs frequently 
in Job. In the New Testament it is applied to Christ. 
" I am Alpha and Omega, . . . saith the Lord, which is, 
and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." 
Rev. i. 8, iv. 8, and xi. 17. 

A similar illustration is furnished by the designations, 
Mighty (rod, Living God, God of Israel, High God, 
Most- High God, God of heaven, Lord God, and other 
formulas of frequent occurrence. 

There are a considerable number of instances in which 
the Personal Word appears to be designated by the 
phrase Dabar Jehovah, translated the Word of the Lord. 
The "Dabar Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, say- 
ing, Fear not, lam thy shield, &c. And Abram said, Ado- 
nai Jehovah, what will thou give me? . . . And behold 
Dabar Jehovah (came) unto him, saying." (The word 
came in this clause is not in the original. " Dabar Je- 
hovah said unto him," would perhaps be more correct.) 
"And he [Dabar Jehovah] brought him forth abroad 
and said, Look now towards heaven. . . . And he be- 
lieved in Jehovah," (in the Word Jehovah, Chaldee Par.) 
Gen. xv. Here personal acts appear to be ascribed to 
Dabar — the Word. It was a person who conversed with 
Abram and brought him forth abroad ; as is observed 
on a subsequent occasion. 

" Dabar Jehovah came to Jacob, saying, Israel shall 
be thy name." 1 Kings xviii. 31. But in Gen. xxxii. 
we read that " there wrestled a man with Jacob, and he 
said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but 
Israel." Here, then, the visible person who, in the form 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 37 

of man, wrestled with Jacob, and who is, by Hose a, 
chap, xii., denominated the Messenger and the Jehovah 
Zebaoth, is called Dabar Jehovah, the Personal Word. 

"Now Dabar Jehovah came unto Jonah, . . . say- 
ing, [or, and said,] Arise, go to Nineveh, that great 
city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come 
up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish 
from the presence of Jehovah, and he found a ship and 
went down into it to go unto Tarshish from the presence 
of Jehovah." Chap. i. " And Dabar Jehovah came unto 
Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nine- 
veh." iii. 1, 2. These passages indicate a personal and 
visible presence. How else could Jonah attempt to 
conceal himself by flight ? In the context the Personal 
Word who thus came is identified with Jehovah, who 
speaks and is addressed as one locally and visibly pres- 
ent. 

" Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither 
was Dabar Jehovah yet revealed unto him." 1 Sam. 
iii. 7. No manifestation of the Personal Word had been 
made to him. " And Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh : 
for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by 
Dabar Jehovah." Ibid. v. 21. " Then came Dabar Je- 
hovah to Samuel, saying,It repenteth me, &c." Ibid. xv. 
10. " It was charged me by Dabar Jehovah. ... It 
was said to me by Dabar Jehovah." 1 Kings xiii. 9, 
17. " And Elijah came to a cave and lodged there ; 
and behold, Dabar Jehovah came to him, and he said 
onto him, What dost thou here, Elijah? . . . And he 
said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before Jeho- 
vah. And behold, Jehovah passed by." 1 Kings xix. 
9, 1 1. '" I) ibar Jehovah carne to Jeremiah, saying, Be- 
fore I formed thee, I knew thee. . . . Then said I, Ah, 
Adonai Jehovah! behold I cannot speak. . . . Then 



38 THE MESSIAH 

Jehovah put forth his hand and "touched my mputh, . . . 

Moreover. Dabar Jehovah came unto me, saying, [or, 
and said,] What seest thou ? . . . And Dabar Jehovah 
Game unto me the second time," &c. Jer. i. 

Such are some of the instances in which this term ap- 
pears to be employed as a personal designation. The 
meaning and reference of such use of it appear to have 
been familiar both to the earlier and later Jews. See 
the chapters relating to the Ohaldee Paraphrases. 



CHAPTER III. 

Reasons for rendering the formula, "Melach Jehovah," the Messenger 
(who is) Jehovah; and not the Angel, or an Angel of the Lord. 

Ax examination of the numerous passages in which 
the denominative Melach is coupled with the name Je- 
hovah, or Elohim, or used interchangeably with those 
names, renders it conclusively manifest that in each and 
every instance the reference is to one and the same offi- 
cial Person. This, however, is not entirely obvious from 
our common version, owing to the circumstance that 
the translators rendered the formula, Melach Jehovah, 
the angel, or sometimes an angel of the Lord. The 
word Jehovah, in the original, never has the article ; 
nor the word Melach, when coupled with Jehovah, 
though when employed alone to designate the same offi- 
cial Person, the article is sometimes prefixed, as in Gen. 
xlviii. 16: " The Melach, which redeemed me." The 
word Elohim often . has the article, and retains it in 
most of the instances in which the formula Melach Elohim 



EH MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 3£ 

occurs, requiring it to be read, Melach the, or who is the, 
Elohim. See some twelve instances in the book of 
Ezra, and more than twenty in Nehemiah, where there 
was a special occasion to distinguish the true from the 
false God. In the formula, Melach Jehovah, there is 
nothing in the original to forbid the two words being 
considered as in apposition, and the rendering conse- 
quently the Messenger Jehovah, or the Messenger who is 
Jehovah. And that such should be the rendering, in- 
stead of the angel or messenger of Jehovah, is apparent 
from the following considerations : 

1st. That the Person identified by this name of office is 
Jehovah, as is shown by the use, in numerous passages, 
of the two names interchangeably. The word Melach, 
it maybe observed, is, when coupled with the name Je- 
hovah, and when used separately or interchangeably, 
with the same personal reference, always in the singular 
number ; and, when coupled with that name, generally 
precedes it; by which circumstances, and the relations 
in which it occurs separately, all confusion as to its re- 
ference is precluded. 

2d. From the consideration that this rendering cor- 
responds with the official character of the Person desig- 
nated. His office is that of a messenger, sent of the 
Father — the Mediator, the Christ. The designation in 
question is in no instance applied to any created angel, 
and no doubt it was intended to distinguish the dele- 
gated Person from the Father who sent him. But to 
render it, the angel or messenger of Jehovah, especially 
in sentences in which the Person designated is called 
Melach Jehovah, and also called Jehovah, Adonai, or 
Eloliini. la not to distinguish but ta confuse. 

3d. This rendering comports with the official agency 
of the delegated Person, as the creator, upholder, law- 



40 THE MESSIAH 

giver, and ruler of all creatures. The works ascribed 
to him are, iu the same sentences and connections, as- 
cribed to Jehovah. 

4th. It comports with the designation by which, when 
he became incarnate, he was familiarly known, and which 
is translated Lord, as the equivalent of the name Jehovah 
in Hebrew. Thus, Luke ii. 11, he is announced as the 
u Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Campbell renders 
.it, The Lord Messiah. The sense is the same as that of Je- 
hovah who is the Messiah, or the Messenger who is Jehovah, 
or the Anointed who is Jehovah. Again, when Thomas 
saw him after his resurrection, he exclaimed, " My Lord 
and my God : ' — my Jehovah and my Elohe. John xx. 

5th. It comports with Hebrew usage in other cases. 
The instances are common in which particular persons 
are designated by two words in apposition, indicating 
different characteristics. Thus, 1 Kings iv. 1 : "So 
king Solomon was king over all Israel;" literally, so 
was the king, Solomon (or, who is Solomon) king, &c. 
Ibid. vii. 13, 14 : And the king, Solomon, sent and 
fetched Hiram, son of a ivoman, a widow — i. e., a woman 
who was a widow; and xvii. 9, a woman {who is) a 
widow. Deut. xxii. 23, 28 : A damsel, a virgin — i. e., a 
damsel who is a virgin. 

When the article is prefixed to the word Elohim, it 
often and perhaps always is meant expressly to distin- 
guish the True God from the false ; as when the people, 
seeing the triumph of Elijah over the prophets of Baal, 
exclaimed, "Jehovah, he is the Elohim :" he, and^jaot 
the pretended Elohim of idolaters, is the true God. The 
import of the formula, Jehovah Elohim, is Jehovah the 
true Elohim, and is not clearly or fully expressed by the 
translation Lord God, any more than it would be by a 
repetition of one or the other of those words. The 



EN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 41 

meaning is, Jehovah vjho is the true God. So llelach Je- 
hovah, the respective terms referring indisputably to the 
same person, means, the Messenger who is Jehovah. • 

But our translators render Melach Jehovah, the angel 
of the Lord, as though the angel was a created agent ; 
or. as though Jehovah in this connection was the Father. 
McCaul, in his observations on Kimchi's translation of 
Zechariah, defends this rendering: First, on the ground, 
that if the words Melach Jehovah are in apposition, the 
translation should be, not, the Angel Jehovah, but an 
angel, or a Messenger Jehovah. But, since the word 
Jehovah never admits the article, and since in the form- 
ula in question the word Melach never admits it, no 
reason can be assigned why the rendering should not 
be the Angel, or the Messenger Jehovah ; it being admit- 
ted that one and the same Person is uniformly desig- 
nated by this formula. On the contrary, if this objec- 
tion were well founded, then in rendering the word 
Jehovah, where it occurs alone, it should read in English, 
a Lord, instead of the Lord. 

Moreover, if his criticisms were well founded, such a 
passage as 2 Chron. xxxii. 21, where the order of the 
itions is Jehovah Melach, would require to be ren- 
dered, Lord of the angel, instead of Jehovah the Messen- 
ger, or the Jehovah Messenger. The statement in the 
'text just quoted from 2 Chronicles is repeated in Isaiah 
xxxvii. 36, where the order of the words in question is 
J <ah. A jain, the formula, (the) Ehhim Me- 
■ surs in 1 Chron. x\i. L5, and also in that and the 
wah, referring to the same Person. 

2d. Be urges thai if the words Melaoh Jehovah were 
tobe rendered the A.ngel Jehovah, then we sh uld ex- 
pect to find the article before the word Melach; be- 
cause, |je says, the word Adam uniformly has it when 



42 THE MESSIAH 

employed to designate Jehovah. But this is a misstate- 
ment. When so employed, that word, in its different 
forms, is generally without the article ; as Joshua iii. 11 
and 13 : " The ark of the covenent of Adon" translated 
the Lord, " of all the earth." " The ark of Adon Jeho- 
vah, Adon of all the earth," rendered in our version, 
'• the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth." Here 
the translators suppress the word Adon where it first 
occurs ; probably assuming, as in the case of Melach 
above referred to, that it was not in apposition with the 
next word, Jehovah ; and seeing that if it was not, the 
version must be, the Lord of the Lord, as they rendered 
Melach Jehovah, the angel of the Lord. But the refer- 
ence of the word Adon being in every such connection 
identical with that of the word Jehovah, and the two 
words, when conjoined, being, like Melach Jehovah, in 
apposition, the version should have been, the Lord (who 
is) Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth. 

Again, 1 Kings ii. 26 : "The ark of Adon Jehovah," 
rendered, the ark of the Lord God ; where the two words 
are taken to be in apposition : and if the translator felt 
a difficulty, he would seem to have sought to avoid it, 
as in other like instances, by an unusual version of the 
word Jehovah. Again, 2 Kings xxii. 6 : "Go up, for 
Adon," rendered the Lord, " shall deliver it." And to 
give but one other out of very numerous instances, Ps. ' 
lxviii. 20 : " Unto Jehovah Adon," rendered God the 
Lord, "belong the issues from death." In all the fore- 
going and similar instances the sense requires the words 
"who is" to be inserted or understood. 

McCaul further observes, that the word Jehovah must 
sometimes be taken as the genitive case, and cites Mai. 
ii. 7: "The priests' lips should keep knowledge, and 
they should seek the law a* his mouth, [referring to Je- 



IX M '-:- AND THE PROPHETS. 43 

hovahZebaoth, vs. 2 and 4,] for lie is Melach Jehovah Ze- 
baoth," rendered, " the messenger of the Lord of hosts." 
But he gives no reason why Melach Jehovah in this 
passage should not be rendered, the Messenger Jehovah, 
as well as in any other passage. Again, he observes, 
that to translate the formula, Melach Jehovah, the angel 
Jehovah, is plainly against the Masoretic punctuation. 
But that is not conclusive ; for the points formed no 
part of the original text, and no one pretends that they 
were inspired. The authors of that system of punctua- 
tion were governed, in their application of the points, 
by their theological, as well as by their grammatical 
theory ; and however grammatically correct they may 
have been in their appropriation of them in all ordinary 
cases, in those passages of which they held an erroneous 
theological or exegetical theory, they of course ar- 
ranged the points conformably, so as to make the text 
express their preconceived opinions. In relation to the 
present instance, for example, Kimchi, as McCaul ob- 
serves, "considered the Person designated the 'angel of 
the Lord,' as nothing more than one of the many angels 
to whom* he supposes the governance of this lower world 
is committed." Observations, page 9. Doubtless the 
authors of the points held the same opinion. McCaul 
observes, in his introduction, that Kimchi and other 
Babbies of his day " endeavored to get rid of the Chris- 
tian interpretations, and to root out the Christian doc- 
which had descended from the ancient Jewish 
Church.' 



44 THE MESSIAH 

C H A P T E R I V . 

Visible Appearance of the Messenger Jehovah to Hagar. 

The first recorded instance of the visible appearance 
of the Angel or Messenger Jehovah, is that to Ilagar, 
Gen. xvi., where the designation Melach Jehovah is 
repeated several times. The Messenger Jehovah found 
Hagar by a fountain of water. lie called her by name; 
directed her to return to her 'mistress; promised to 
multiply her seed exceedingly ; and directed her to call 
her son Ishmael, " because Jehovah had heard her afflic- 
tion." "And she called the name of Jehovah that spake 
unto her, Thou El seest me : for she said, Have I also 
here looked after him that seeth me ?" The visible Person 
whom she saw, and who spoke to her, and promised 
what none but a Divine Person could promise, is called 
Melach Jehovah, and also Jehovah, and El. He was 
therefore not a messenger of Jehovah, or a distinct per- 
son from him, but Jehovah himself, as recognized and 
worshipped under the several designations here applied 
to him. Considered as the administrator of Providence, 
the things said and done by him were in keeping with 
his delegated character, and with the acts ascribed to 
him on other occasions. There is a further notice of 
lii.- dealings with Ishmael, Gen. xxii. 17, after his expul- 
sion, with Hagar, from Abraham's house, and her aban- 
donment of him in despair of his life. "And Elohim 
heard the voice of the lad: and Melach Elohim [in our 
version, the angel of God] called to Hagar out of heaven, 
dd unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar ? Fearnot; 
for Elohim hath heard the voice of the lad, where he is. 



IN MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. 45 

Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand ; for I 
will make of him a great nation. And Elohirn opened 
her eyes, and she saw a well of water ; and Elohim was 
with the lad," &c. Here the speaker is Melach Elohim, 
which designation must refer to the same official Person 
as that of Melach Jehovah in the former instance, for 
he personally promised the same thing; saying in the 
one case, "/will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it 
shall not be numbered for multitude ;" and in the other, 
" I will make him a great nation." That the import and 
reference of the two formulas is the same, is also evident 
beyond a question from other passages, where both are in- 
differently applied to the same person; as Judges vi. 20, 21: 
"And Melach (the) Elohim said unto him, Take the flesh 
and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock, 
and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then Melach 
ih put forth the end of the staff that was in his 
haud, and touched the flesh," &c And again, Judges 
xiii. 3-9 : " And Melach Jehovah appeared unto the 
woman, and (the) Elohim hearkened to the voice of Ma- 
noah, and Melach (the) Elohim came again unto the 
woman." The narratives in which these passages 
occur clearly restrict the reference to one and the same 
Person. 

In the original of these quotations, the article is pre- 
fixed to the word Elohim, as it is also elsewhere, (under- 
soored, or included above and hereafter in parenthesis,) 
which is by some supposed to require the rendering to 
in our common version, the angel or messenger of 
Elohim. But this conclusion cannot be sustained: 1st, 
because it indicates something different in respect to the 
Persi mi referred to from the formula Melach Jehovah; and 
2d, because in other instances of similar formulas the arti- 
cle does not occur, as in Gen. xxi. 17: "And Melach 



46 THE MESSIAH 

Elohim called to Hagar." The occurrence of the arti- 
cle does not determine the construction. It is often 
redundant, and is prefixed to the word Elohim where it 
cannot be a sign of the genitive, because not immedi- 
ately preceded by a noun to govern it. Thus in the 
passage above quoted from Judges xiii. we read, "and 
the Elohim hearkened," &c, the article being prefixed in 
the original. So Gen. vi. 11: "The earth also was cor- 
rupt before the Elohim." Gen. xvii. 18: "And Abra- 
ham said unto the Elohim." Gen. xxii. 3, 9, xxvii. 28, 
and many other places. 



CHAPTER V. 



No visible Divine Appearances ever made except of the Messiah, the 
Mediator in all the Relations of God to the "World. 



Having shown that the denominative Melach, when 
coupled with the name Jehovah, or the name Elohim. 
or used interchangeably with either of those or with 
other Divine names, is a designat on of the Messiah ; 
that when that denominative is employed interchange- 
ably with the names Jehovah, Elohim, or Adonai, those 
names designate the same official Person ; and that the 
formulas Melach Jehovah and Melach Elohim have one 
and the same personal import and reference, the way is 
prepared for an examination of other Scriptures in 
which occur the same designations of the delegated One 
of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, the Word who 
was in the beginning, and by whom all things were 
created and are upheld. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 47 

This wonderful Person often, in the course of the 
ancient dispensations, manifested himself visibly in the 
likeness of that form which in due time he permanently 
assumed, by taking human nature into union with his 
person. In his delegated official character, being the 
agent in all external and visible works and manifesta- 
tions, and the medium of all relations between creatures 
and the Self-existent, he was from the beginning the 
image and acting representative of the invisible Deity ; 
delegated of the Father to accomplish the works which, 
pursuant to the counsels of eternity, belong to his com- 
prehensive administration. To him, in this character 
and in distinction from the Father, belonged all visible 
personal manifestations. And hence, to enforce the 
necessary discrimination, and prevent erroneous im- 
pressions, the Evangelist John, chap, i., on announcing 
the visible Word, the Word incarnate, as the visible 
expression of the glory of the Father, says: "No man 
hath seen God (the Father) at any time ; it is [see Camp- 
bell's version] the only-begotten Son, that is in the 
bosom of the Father, who hath made him known." 
And again, chap. vi. 45 : "Every man that hath heard 
and learned of the Father cometh unto me; not that 
any man hatli seen the Father;" (or, as rendered by 
Campbell,) "not that any man, except him who is from 
God, hath seen the Father. He, indeed, hath seen the 
Father." Again xiv. 9: "He that hath seen me, hath 
seen the Father;" that is, hath seen the image, the 
only visible representative- of the Father. And in his 
first epistle, chap, iv: "No man hath seen God at any 
time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. 
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent 
tin- Son to be the Saviour of the world." 

These Statements preclude the supposition of any 



■j 



48 THE MESSIAH 

visible personal appearance during the preceding dispen- 
sations, excepting of the delegated official Person to 
whom the revelation of the Invisible was assigned ; and 
who when referred to as Creator is called Elohira and 
Jehovah, and when referred to as the administrator of 
Providence, or in his relations to individuals and to the 
house of Israel, is called indiscriminately by all the 
Divine names and titles, whether significant especially 
of his Divine nature, or of his official person, agency or 
character. 

In these multiform relations he was the great theme, 
as he was the lawgiver, administrator and revealer of 
the ancient dispensations ; asserting the same preroga- 
tives and performing the same acts when referred to by 
official titles, as when specially denominated Jehovah or 
Elohim. In both cases, from the nature and historical 
connection of the acts ascribed to him, it is evident that 
the actor was personally one and the same. 

The word Elohim is a general term, employed, it may 
be presumed, originally, with reference only to the 
Supreme Being, but subsequently appropriated to ima- 
ginary deities. In the Hebrew Scriptures it occurs in 
several forms, as El, Elohe, Eloah, Elohim, referring 
sometimes to the Divine Being absolutely, sometimes 
definitely to the Father, sometimes to the Holy Spirit, 
but commonly to the Son; as is the case with corre- 
sponding and equivalent designations in the New Testa- 
ment. The radical idea of this word, in its simplest 
form, is, according to some Hebrew lexicographers, 
that of interposer, intervener, mediator; derived from 
the intervention of air and light between all bodies in 
space, and indicating the universal agency of the Divine 
Person, primarily designated as interposer or mediator. 
And undoubtedly the scope of numerous passages 



IN MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. 49 

implies this special reference, though, not always appa- 
rent, without reference to other scriptures; as in Psalm 
xlv. 6 : " Thy throne, Elohim, is for ever and ever ;" and 
cii. 24 : "I said, El, [with the suffix for my, and rendered 
O my God,] take me not away in the midst of my 
days : thy years are throughout all generations. Of 
old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the 
heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish," 
&c. These passages are quoted, Heb. i., as having referred 
expressly to Christ. 

Hengstenberg, in his Christology, p. 160, vol. I., in- 
troduces his investigation respecting the character of 
the Angel or Messenger, in which he designs to show 
that the alleged essential oneness of the Messiah with 
the Jehovah does not contradict the Old Testament 
doctrine of the unity, by observing, "that the New 
Testament makes us acquainted with God, the Father of 
Jesus Christ, as a Spirit, who, being every where equally 
present, never manifests himself in a sensible form. 
But besides this concealed God, it makes known to us 
also a revealed God, associated with him by the oneness 
of their nature ; the Son or Logos, who has constantly 
filled up the infinite distance between the Creator and 
the creation, and been the Mediator in all the relations 
of God to the world and the human race; "who, even 
before he became man in the person of Christ, was in 
all agea the light of the world, and to whom especially 
the whole direction of the visible Theocracy belonged. 
Although this doctrine was first unfolded with perfect 
clearness in the New Testament, yet we find an essen- 
tial distinction between the unrevealed and the revealed 
God, even in the writings of the Old Testament." 

After examining the principal passages which speak 
of the Messenger or Angel Jehovah, and showing "that 
3 



50 THE MESSIAH 

they really contain the doctrine of a distinction between 
the concealed and the revealed God," pp. 165-182, he 
thus concludes, pp. 183-187 : " We believe then that we 
have satisfactorily shown that by the Angel of Jehovah 
is to be understood the Eevealer of God, who being a 
partaker of his Godhead, and united with him in the 
same nature, was the mediator in all his relations, first 
with the patriarchs, and afterwards with the visible 
Theocracy. This Revealer of Jehovah then was ex- 
pected as a great Restorer in future times. This is 
evident from those places in the Old Testament which 
ascribe to the Messiah Divine names, attributes, and 
works; for if the Messiah were God, he could stand, 
according to the whole system of the religion of the 
Old Testament, in no other relation to the Most High 
God than that which the x\ngel of Jehovah was thought 
to sustain. Further, the passage in Malachi iii. 1 af- 
fords the most distinct testimony in favor of the iden- 
tity of both. There the Messiah bears the name of the 
Angel of the Covenant, either, according to the general 
import of the term covenant, the angel who is the 
mediator in every engagement between God and men, 
or, according to its special meaning, the angel who 
established the covenant of Sinai with the people of 
Israel. From this appellation, therefore, it appears that 
the Messiah is the same as the Angel Jehovah, whose 
agency in giving the law at Sinai is not indeed expressly 
mentioned in the Mosaic account, but it is rendered 
sufficiently certain by analogy, and by the positive testi- 
mony of the prophet. As the Angel Jehovah, in those 
passages where he is expressly named, bears interchange- 
ably the names Jehovah and Elohim, so must we often 
suppose him to be intended, where Jehovah only is 
spoken of throughout. Comp. Gen. xxxii. 24, &c, with 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 51 

Hosea xii. 4-6, and Excel, xx. 8, where the angel is nut 
mentioned, and Jehovah says, ; I am the Lord thy God, 
who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.' Al- 
lowing it to have been the office of the Angel Jehovah 
in general to act as mediator in the transactions between 
the invisible God and men. his mediation must be 
assumed, in many instances, where it is not expressly 
mentioned." " This identity of the Angel of Jehovah 
and the Messiah was acknowledged also by the later 
Jews.'' "But what renders this identity indubitably 
certain is the evidence of the New Testament, in which 
Christ appears as the Mediator of the Old Covenant, 
and every thing is attributed to him which in the Old 
Testamenl is spoken of Jehovah and his Revealer. 
ling to John xii. 41, Isaiah saw the glory of Christ 
and spake of him; on the other hand, in the passage 
referred to, chap, vi., Isaiah saw the glory of Jehovah. 
1 < !i >r. x. 9, it is said, ' Neither let us tempt Christ, as 
some of them also tempted and were destroyed of ser- 
pents.' According to this passage, therefore, Christ 
was the leader of the Israelites through the wilderness, 
and was tempted by them. On the other hand, the 
Pentateuch relates that they were led by the Angel Jeho- 
vah ; and in Numb. xxi. 5-7, that they tempted Jeho- 
v;ili. 1 Pet. i. 10 declares that the Spirit of Chrisl 
spake by the prophets: but the prophets themselves 
always refer to Jehovah as the source of their predic- 
tions. According to Heb. xi. 26, Moses preferred 
reproach for the sake of Christ, to the treasures of 
Bgypl : tlr- narrative in Exodus informs us thai he 
sacrificed every thine to t he service of Jehovah. Accord- 
ing t<> He],, xii. 26, a1 the giving of the law, the voice 
of Christ shook the earth : in Exodus this was done by 
•I ili." "Wemusl in a e ■ tin respect distinguish 



52 THE MESSIAH 

between the Angel Jehovah and the Son of God, and 
not, with the Fathers and most of the old theologians, 
venture to say that they are perfectly identical." " That 
the Mediator of the New Testament was also, as the 
Ad gel Jehovah, the Mediator in all the relations of 
God to the people of the Old Testament, was, with the 
exception of the above named Fathers, the unanimous 
opinion of the ancient Church." 

After quoting a list of authorities, he concludes: 
u Let us now briefly sum up the result of the preceding 
investigation. In the prophetic Scriptures, a divine as 
well as human nature is attributed to the Messiah: and 
yet every polytheistic idea is excluded by the assump- 
tion of his essential unity with the Most High God. It 
was expected that the Angel or Eevealer of Jehovah, 
who had often before made himself occasionally visible, 
and acted as the Mediator between God and the people, 
in all their transactions, would assume human nature in 
the person of the Messiah, and redeem and bless both 
Jews and Gentiles. 

"Here the question yet arises: If the distinction 
between the revealed and the unrevealed God was 
already made known under the Old Testament, wherein 
is the New Testament in this respect superior to the 
Old? The preference consists in this: Under the Old 
Testament the distinction was necessarily kept more 
out of view, and hence might easily appear to be founded 
not so much on a relation in the Godhead itself, as on a 
relation to those to whom the revelation was made. In 
the Old Testament, the Mediator commonly spoke and 
acted in the name of God, whom he revealed. Nor 
could it be otherwise before the Logos had become flesh. 
Sence the Eevealer and lie who was revealed in a 
manner lost themselves in each other. But under the 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 53 

New Testament, on the contrary, they appeared distin- 
guished from each other, as Father and Son. Religion 
thus gained a two-fold advantage. It became more 
spiritual, and at the same time more an object of sense : 
more spiritual, by the exclusion of those limited concep- 
tions of the spirituality, the omniscience, and the omni- 
presence of God which arose from confounding the 
Revealer with him who was revealed; more an object of 
sense, because the Son of God, in his life, sufferings, and 
death, brought the Divine Being nearer to man than 
was possible in the transient appearances of the Angel 
under the Old Testament. But such a condescension of 
the Deity to fallen man is indispensable to his becom- 
ing like God." 

On these passages it may be observed, that in what 
the author says of the Mediator having " constantly 
filled up the infinite distance between the Creator and 
the creation," he proceeds on the common theory that 

visible, the concealed God, in distinction from the 
p srsonal Word, is the Creator. This is inconsistent with 
the preceding statement, that he never manifests him- 
self in a sensible form : for He who created, upholds 
and governs, appeared personally and visibly to Abra- 
ham, Jacob, Moses and others, as Jehovah, gave the law 
ai Sinai, and was the leader of Israel. With respect to 
tli'' distinction which he refers to as existing ift a certain 

: between the Angel of Jehovah and the Son of 
God, it is presumed that he considered the latter title 
as applicable t<> the s M Person of the Trinity, eter- 
nally, and as designating that Person anterior to his 
appointment as Mediator, and without reference to his 
incarnation or his official work in any respect. The 

i • which he ascribes to the Fathers is presumed 
to be, that the official Person who is called tin- Angel 



54 THE MESSIAH 

Jehovah, and who took on him the seed of Abraham, 
was identically the same Person before and after the 
m and union of man's nature to the Divine; 
and that he was designated as the same person by the 
phrase, "the Son of God/' In the passages above 
1. where the preposition of is not inserted between 
the words Angel and Jehovah, the author gives the 
Hebrew words. When he translates them, he inserts 
the preposition. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Appearances of the Messenger Jehovah to Abraham and to Jacob. 

IN the narrative of Abraham's offering of Isaac, Gen. 
xxii., we read that "Melach Jehovah called unto him 
out of heaven, and said, Lay not thine hand npon the 
Lad, fori know that thou fearest Elohim, seeing thou 
hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And 
Melach Jehovah called unto Abraham out of heaven the 
second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith 
Jehovah, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast 
not withheld thy son, thine only son, That in blessing I. 
will bless thee, because thou hast obeyed my voice.:' 

At the commencement of this narrative it is said that 
(the) Elohim did tempt Abraham, i. c., try him in respect 
to hi. faith and obedience. "And he said, Take now 
thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and 
into iln; land of Moriah, and offer him there 
for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I 
will tell thee of. And Abraham went unto the place 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 55 

of which (the) Elohim "had told him." There he built 
an altar, and having bound Isaac he laid him on the 
altar, and took the knife to slay him ; when Melach 
Jehovah called to him, forbade the intended sacrifice, 
and said, I know that thou fearest Elohim, seeing thou 
hast not withheld thy son from me. From this it is evi- 
dent that the offering was intended to be made, and was 
virtually made, to Melach Jehovah. For "By faith 
Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac ; account- 
ing that God was able to raise him up from the dead, 
from whence also he received him in a figure." Heb. xi. 
His faith, in this extraordinary act of worship, had 
immediate respect to the delegated Messenger Jeho- 
vah, then and ever the resurrection and the life. He 
was the Divine speaker on the occasion, his voice it was 
that Abraham obeyed, and to him he rendered the high- 
est acts of homage and obedience. It was in his official 
as well as in that of Elohim, that he spoke to 
Abraham, and to him in all respects the scene evidently 
refers. After offering the animal provided in place of 
[saac, he discerned an import and a reference in the 
transaction, which were to be fulfilled on the same 
mount at a future day; and he therefore named the 
place Jehovah-Jireh, importing that what was signified 
1 >v 1 1 is offering would be realized and witnessed there, and 
giving rise to a saying expressive of that result, and 
pointing no doubt, so explicitly as not to be misunder- 
stood, to the sacrifice of Christ: namely, "In the mount 
of Jehovah it shall be seen;" or, according to Warbur- 
. Bee. 5, "In the mount Jehovah shall be 

In the narrative of Jacob's departure from Laban, 
Gen. xxi., he says: "Melach (the) Elohim spake unto 
me in a dream, and he said, I have seen all that Laban 



">6 THE MESSIAH 

doeth unto thee. 1 am the El of Beth-El, where thou 
anoiutedst the pillar, and -where thou vowedst a vow 
unto me." Here the Messenger Jehovah declares him- 
self to be the God of Beth-El, and that the vow made there 
was made to him. In ehap. xxviii., where that transac- 
tion is related, he is announced, not by this special name 
of office, but by other designations, showing that in his 
official character he was familiarly recognized by the 
various Divine names, whether employed separately or 
conjointly. And Jacob awaked and said, " Surely Je- 
hovah is in this place; this is the house of Elohim: 
and Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If Elohim will be with 
me, &c, then shall Jehovah be my Elohc." 

There is in the history of Jacob another striking 
illustration of this usage. On his way from Padan- 
aram, after his interview with Esau, he came to Shalem 
in the land of Canaan and pitched his tent there, and 
built an altar which he called El-Elohe-Tsrael. Subse- 
quently Elohim said unto Jacob, "Arise, go up to 
Beth-El, and dwell there ; and make there an altar unto 
El that appeared unto thee when thou fieddest from the 
face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his 
household, Let us arise and go up to Beth-El, and I will 
make there an altar unto El who answered me in the 
day of my distress, and was with me in the way which 
I went. So Jacob came to Beth-El, and he built there 
an altar, and called the place El-Beth-El, because there 
(the) Elohim appeared unto him, when he fled from the 
face of his brother. And Elohim appeared unto Jacob 
again; and Elohim said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: 
thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Isra-El 
shall be thy name. And Elohim said unto him, I am 
El-Shadai, (God Almighty.) And Elohim went up from 
him in the place where he talked with him." Chap. 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 57 

xxxv. But He who visibly appeared to, and wrestled 
with him on the occasion referred to, Gren. xxxii., and 
whom he saw face to face, was Elohim in the likeness 
of man, and is called by Hosea Melach, the Messenger, 
even Jehovah Elohe of Zebaoth. 

The above-mentioned appearance of Elohim to Jacob 
was doubtless a visible appearance, for after talking with 
Jacob, Elohim went up from him and from the place of 
meeting. And it is clear that the same Person who 
before was called a man is here called Elohim. Proba- 
bly in other instances, where Jehovah or Elohim is said 
to appear, as to Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 2, 24, and to Abra- 
ham and others on various occasions, were visible per- 
sonal appearances. 

Another instance in the history of Jacob, in which 
the official designation Melach occurs interchangeably 
with Elohim, is (ion. xlviii. 15: "And he blessed Jo- 
seph and said, (The) Elohim, before whom my fathers 
Abraham and Isaac did walk, (the) Elohim which fed 
me all my life long unto this day, the Melach which 
redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." The identity 
of Person here is made emphatic by the article prefixed 
to each designation. 



r 



58 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER VII 



References to various Appearances of Jehovah and Elohim to the Pa- 
triarchs. 

It is evident from the preceding illustrations that 
during the patriarchal dispensation, the personal Word, 
Jehovah in the delegated character of Messiah, appeared 
visibly in the form of man, and was recognized under 
official and other Divine designations, appropriated sep- 
arately and interchangeably to the one manifested and 
acting interposer and agent in the works of creation, 
providence and redemption. There are in the records 
of that dispensation numerous collateral evidences and 
implications to the same effect, which may be comprised 
under what relates to personal designations and appear- 
ances, the import and reference of sacrificial offerings, 
the places, manner, and immediate object of worship, 
prayer, faith and trust, and the familiarity of intercourse 
on the part of the Divine administrator of Providence 
and guardian of his people during that economy. 

As a, farther evidence that the instances in which it 
is said that Elohim or Jehovah appeared to Abraham or 
others were local, personal, visible appearances, it may 
be observed that on the occasion mentioned, Gen. xvii., 
it is said that Jehovah appeared to him: "And he left 
off talking with him, and Elohim went up from Abra- 
ham;" as in a passage before referred to, chap, xxxv., 
that "Elohim appeared unto Jacob: and Elohim went 
up from him in the place where he talked with him." 
The word translated icent up, signifies to ascend, to go 
tip, &c., and is of frequent occurrence. Thus, Ps. lxviii. 



IH MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 59 

18: "Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led cap- 
tivity," &c.; quoted and applied to Christ, Eph. iv. 
Judges xiii. 20: "When the flame went up towards 
heaven from off the altar, Melach Jehovah ascended in 
the flame of the altar." Ezekiel xi. 23 : " And the glory 
of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city, and 
stood upon the mountain." Gen. xix. 28: "The smoke 
of the country went up, as the smoke of a furnace." 

The like evidence as to the local, personal presence of 
Jehovah on such occasions, results from the use of 
the word translated came dozen, descended, where his 
presence or the local exercise of his prerogatives is 
mentioned. Thus, with reference to Babel and the dis- 
m: "Jehovah came down to see the city and the 
... So Jehovah scattered them abroad," &c. Gen. 
xi. 5. So on the occasion of his first visible appearance 
to Moses: "Melach Jehovah appeared unto him in a 
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Moses hid his 
face, for he was afraid to look upon Elohim. And 
Jehovah said, I am come down, to deliver them," &c. 
Exod. iii. Again: "Jehovah came down upon mount 
Sinai, on the top of the mount; and Jehovah called 
Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up." 
]•'.:■:• »d. xix. 20. And when Moses took the two tables of 
stone up to the top of Sinai, "Jehovah descended in the 
cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the 
iii n i" «>f Jehovah." Exod. xxxv. At the consecration 
of the seventy elders, "Jehovah came down in a cloud, 
and Bpake unto Moses." Numbers xi. 25. At the 
sedition of Miriam and Aaron, "Jehovah came down in 
tin- pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the 
tabernacle, and -aid, Hear now my words." Ibid. xii. 5. 
JEheee and various other passages clearly import a per- 
sonal de.sf.otit in a visible form ; and no less clearly 



60 THE MESSIAH 

indicate, by the titles, occasions and acts narrated, that 
it was the'delegated One, the Word, to whom all such 
manifestations refer, conformably to the allusion to the 
ascension of Christ, Ephes. iv. : " He that descended is the 
same also that ascended up far above all heavens." 

The word translated appeared, in all the instances of 
local personal manifestation, literally means appeared 
visibly, was seen ; as Gen. i. 9 : " Let the dry land appear ;" 
Gen. viii. 5 : " The tops of the mountains were seen;'' 1 and 
vii. 1 : " Thee have I seen righteous ;" ix. 14: " The bow 
shall be seen ;" xxxi. 42 : " Elohim hath seen mine afflic- 
tion;" xlviii. 3: "El-Shadai appeared unto me at Luz;" 
literally, was seen by me. Judges xiii. 22 : " We have seen 
Elohim." Exod. xxiv. 10 : "And they saw the Elohe 
of Israel." 

This will be further illustrated by reference to par- 
ticular instances mentioned in the book of Genesis. 
"And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto 
thy seed will I give this land : and there builded he an 
altar unto Jehovah who appeared unto him." Chap, 
lxii. 7. That this was a visible manifestation, is indi- 
cated not only by the obvious import of the terms 
employed, but by Abram's building an altar, and con- 
secrating the locality as a place of worship, and of 
typical offerings to Jehovah. 

Again, chap. xvii. 1 : "Jehovah appeared to Abram, 
and said unto him, I am El-Shadai ; walk before me, 
and be thou perfect. And Abram fell on his face ; and 
Elohim talked with him, saying," &c. After changing 
his name to Abraham, and that of his wife to Sarah, 
announcing a covenant with him, hearing his prayer for 
Ishmael, and giving sundry promises and directions, 
"Elohim left off talking with him, and went up from 
Abraham." The language, and all the circumstances 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 61 

and details of this interview, imply a local, personal, 
visible presence of Jehovah. 

The next instance, chap, xviii., is that in which. "Jeho- 
vah appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre," in 
the likeness of man ; was entertained by him, walked 
and conversed with, and heard his requests in behalf of 
the righteous in Sodom : which undoubtedly was a 
local, visible, personal appearance of Jehovah the Word. 

In the 26th chapter we read that Isaac went to Gerar, 
"And Jehovah appeared unto him, and said, Go not 
down into Egypt," &c. Afterwards he removed to 
Beersheba, " And Jehovah appeared unto him, and said, 
I am the Elohe of Abraham thy father : fear not, for I 
am with thee," &c. " And he budded an altar there, 
and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his 
tent there." At these interviews the same promises 
substantially respecting his descendants were made to 
him, that had been made to Abraham, with the same 
introductory formula concerning the appearance of the 
Divine speaker; and considering that Isaac built an 
altar and fixed his residence at Beersheba, worshipped, 
doubtless presenting typical offerings on the altar, and 
consecrating that as the place of his future worship in 
the confidence of its being thereafter a place of Divine 
manifestation, there seems to be very ample ground to 
conclude that these were local, personal, and visible 
appearances, similar in their form, as they were in their 
object, to those vouchsafed to Abraham. 

The first instance to be noticed in the history of 
Jacob, is referred to in chap, xlviii. 3: "And Jacob 
said unto Joseph, El-Shadai appeared unto me at Luz, 
and blessed me," &c. The occasion was that of his 
vision of a ladder : " And Jehovah stood above it and 
said, I am Jehovah Elohe of Abraham ;" see chap. 



(32 THE MESSIAH 

xxv iii. Subsequently, chap, xxxv., he was directed to 
return and reside at that place. "Elohim said unto 
Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and make there an altar 
unto El, thai d unto thee when thou Reddest 

from the lace of Esau. And he built there an altar, 
and called the place El-Beth-El; because there (the) 
Elohim appeared unto him, when he fled; 1 &c. The 
ion of the word appeared in these passages, its 
implied significance as a reason for building an altar, 
the occasion referred to, and the object of speaking of 
it to Joseph, indicate a memorable personal, visible 
appearance at the place specified. 

-And Elohim appeared unto Jacob again, and said 
unto him, lam El-Shadai ; and Elohim went up from him 
in the place where he talked with him," chap. 85 : 
which can hardly be taken for any other than a local 
and visible presence. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Of the Doctrines, Worship, and Faith of those earliest mentioned in 
Scripture — Reference to the History of Moses, Noah, Joshua 

Waiving for the present a notice of many analogous 
instances in other parts of Scripture, it may be observed 
that there are, in the history of the patriarchs, a variety 
of statements and expressions which, from the occasions 
to which they relate, the connections in which they 
occur, or the things specified, naturally imply the local 
person d presence of the Divine speaker, especially 
when considered in connection with the instances in 
which it is clearly shown that he was visibly present. 
In the course of that history there are numerous inti- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 63 

mations that the worshippers of Jehovah had places 
appropriated to their religious services, where they 
offered prayers and sacrifices, and where, by an audible 
voice, he held immediate and familiar converse with 
them. Thus in the first recorded instance of worship, 
Gen. iv., we read that Cain, and Abel also, " brought an 
offering unto Jehovah. And Jehovah had respect unto 
Abel and to his offering : but unto Cain and his offering 
he had not respect ; and Cain was very wroth, and his 
countenance fell. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why 
art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?" 
It is apparent from this narrative, and from their dis- 
similar occupations, that they prepared their offerings 
not in concert, but separately from each other; that they 
brought them to the same place at the same time; that 
they respectively offered them to Jehovah ; and that he 
was present in such a way as to be recognized by them, 
for he immediately indicated to their apprehension and 
conviction his acceptance of one and rejection of the 
other, and spoke directly and pointedly to Cain. After 
his slaughter of Abel, and probably on his resorting 
again to the place of worship and Divine manifestation, 
..■ih spoke again to him, and pronounced a curse 
upon him for his crime ; to which Cain replied, as 
though not unaccustomed to speak to Jehovah, and 
said, among other things, as though conscious that he 
was excommunicated and banished from the consecrated 
place : " From thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a 
fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. . . . AndCainwent 
<-"it from the presena of, Jehovah." Strongly implying 
that lie had been accustomed to the visible presence, 
and had Been Jehovah, and that banishment from that 
place forbade the hope of such vision of him again. 
It is evident from the details and circumstances of 



64 THE MESSIAH 

this scene, and from references to it in other parts of 
Scripture, that there was no want of intelligence in 
cither of the parties, as to the nature and import of their 
offerings, the ritual and reference which they implied, 
or the righteous discrimination and the moral bearing 
and significance of the verdicts and consequences in 
their respective cases. "Cain was of the wicked one," 
a disciple and servant of the great adversary, and slew 
his brother "because his own works were evil and his 
brother's righteous." He knew, as the questions which 
Jehovah addressed to him imply, that if he did well, if 
with the like faith he made an offering like that of Abel, 
he would in like manner be accepted ; and that he had 
no just ground to be angry, or even to be disappointed 
on being rejected for taking a contrary course. But he 
brought — not like Abel a sin offering, implying a con- 
viction and acknowledgment of his personal sinfulness, 
and of his faith in that great expiatory sacrifice to 
which his typical offering owed all its significance — but 
an offering of fruits, an expression of acknowledgment 
to the Creator, which implied no acknowledgment on his 
part of his being a sinner and needing a Saviour, or of 
his having any faith in the prefigured atonement, or any 
disposition to conform to the ritual of worship. The 
faith of Abel exhibited on this occasion was, like that of 
Abraham, effectual to his justification; a faith in the 
person, sacrifice, and righteousness of the Divine Ke- 
deemer ; and is the first on the illustrious roll recorded, 
Heb. xi. And from the nature of the case, as well as 
from the particulars of the narrative, we must conclude 
that his offering was in all respects an example of con- 
formity to the ritual of worship instituted by Jehovah ; 
that it comprised not merely firstlings of his flock, but 
such as had all the characteristics which are specified in 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 65 

subsequent records ; that it was made by fire on an 
altar, at a place appropriated to that object ; that it was 
a medium of his faith and an expression of his homage 
and obedience, solely by reason of its reference to the 
person and prefiguration of the atoning sacrifice of 
Christ ; and that it was rendered to that Person then 
locally present, in the form which he was at length per- 
manently to assume, and in which his sacrifice of him- 
self was to be made. So far at least as these particu- 
lars are concerned, the ritual and rationale of the worship 
prescribed does not appear to have been changed dur- 
ing the patriarchial dispensation, nor in that which 
ensued, though in the Mosaic ritual many details were 
added on the basis of those originally prescribed. The 
method of acceptable worship, the immediate object of 
homage, and the faith which was unto salvation, con- 
tinued the same ; and it is clear from the narratives in 
various instances, that burnt offerings, typical sacrifices, 
were made to the delegated one, personating the prom- 
ised Seed, under the designation of Jehovah, or Melach 
Jehovah, when he was locally and visibly present. 

It is to be considered that Moses wrote about 2500 
years after the creation ; that the children of Israel had 
retained the language and customs of their ancestors, so 
as to render it superfluous to particularize cither the 
religious or civil institutions of earlier times, any 
farther than was necessary to the personal narratives or 
historical notices of individuals and families. They 
understood and practised what had been handed down 
from the beginning through Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and 
others, and though to some i sttenl infected with the 
idolatrous spirit of the Kgyptiaiis, were familiar with 
the ritual, the sacrifices and offerings, and other insti- 
tution.- of the revealed system of religion. Moreover, 



66 THE MESSIAH 

all that concerned their religious doctrines and rites wa^ 
under his ministry, renewed, and with new revelations 
and ordinances set forth in writing for their instru 
and that of their - Hence the scanty, and for 

t'n-- m<.st part merely incidental, mention -of things of 
thai nature in his retrospective history. It by no means 
follows from the brevity and infrequency of his notices, 
that such men as Abel, Enoch. Lamech, Noah, Sheni, 
Job, Abraham, [saac, and Jacob, whose united lives 
extended from the first institution of religious rites down 
to the settlement of Israel in Egypt, had not a clear and 
comprehensive knowledge of all the leadingtruths and es- 
sential doctrines of revealed religion, which were known 
to Moses or any of his successors prior to the advent 
of Christ. On the contrary, judging from the characters 
and relations which they sustained, the personal converse 
with Jehovah which most of them are recorded to have 
had, and the references made to several of them in the 
prophets and in the New Testament, we must conclude 
that the}' had such knowledge. They received instruc- 
tion directly from the Great Eevealer. Most of them 
were, at times, inspired, and prophesied. Aud one 
might as well conclude that Solomon did not understand 
even the simplest forms of numerical computation, be- 
cause mathematics are not mentioned among the sub- 
jects upon which he spoke or wrote, as to conclude, be- 
cause so little is recorded of them in detail by Moses, 
thai these men of world-wide celebrity for their religious 
faith and practice, and their eminence as princes and 
heads of nations, did not understand the doctrines and 
the faith which they professed, and for which they are 
set forth as examples to Christian believers under the 
present dispensation. 

The possession of such knowledge on their part, and 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 67 

the reality of the local presence and often the visible 
appearance of the Messiah, the Messenger Jehovah, may 
be illustrated by reference to the personal history of 
Moses, ISToah, and Joshua, and to the use of terms by 
them and by other sacred writers. 

After the children of Israel had sojourned in Egypt 
about four hundred }*ears, Moses was called to conduct 
them to the land of promise. By oppressive laws and 
rigorous exactions under a new dynasty of kings to- 
wards the close of the period of their bondage, they 
were greatly depressed. At the birth of Moses, however, 
there were those who had faith, and the knowledge of 
the true religion was by no means generally effaced. 
In the exercise of faith his parents concealed him 
three months. " The children of Israel sighed by 
reason of their bondage, and they cried, and their cry 
came up unto the Elohim by reason of the bondage. And 
Elohim heard their groaning, and Elohim remembered 
his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob ; 
and Elohim looked upon the children of Israel, and 
Elohim had respect unto them." Exod. ii. The people 
generally, it would seem, cried to the Elohe of their 
fathers for relief, and were heard and regarded. 

Though from childhood to the age of forty Moses 
was one of the family and court of Pharoah, and prob- 
ably, therefore, could have had no peculiar advantages 
of instruction in the true religion, he nevertheless had 
such knowledge and experience of it, that "by faith, 
when he was come to years, he refused to be called the 
son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer 
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the plea- 
sures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of 
Chrisl greater ridii's than the treasures of Egypt: for he 
had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Heb. xi. 



68 THE MESSIAH 

In this brief testimony concerning him, we clearly 

ize the faith of Abraham, and of the prophets 

and martyrs of later times. He made no compromises 

with the honors, riches, or pleasures of the world, but 

renounced them. He sought not to serve two masters. 
He clearly discerned what distinguished the people of 
Grod from idolaters and unbelievers, and was well aware 
of the afflictions and trials which were consequent on 
their faith, and their allegiance and obedience to the 
Messiah, the Divine Mediator, the Messenger Jehovah, 
the Christ, In the certain prospect of affliction, re- 
proaches, and sufferings, he chose publicly to manifest 
his faith and allegiance by his conduct. He forsook the 
court of Pharaoh, renounced the pleasures of sin and 
the riches of Egypt, and welcomed the cross. 

In the family of Jethro, the priest of Midian, he prob- 
ably found true worshippers, and met with nothing detri- 
mental to his sentiments ; and by the scene in which the 
Messenger Jehovah visibly appeared to him, doubtless 
his faith was so confirmed, and his knowledge increased, 
as to qualify him for the extraordinary services to which 
he was called. Hence we further read of him that, 
after the miracles and plagues by which Pharaoh was at 
length made to yield, " By faith he forsook Egypt, not 
fearing the wrath of the king. . . . And by faith he 
kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood." Heb. 
xi. 

Now it is in the light of his character as thus referred 
to— of his knowledge and experience of the true religion 
as held by the people of God then and in earlier times — 
of his faith in the person and mediatorial work of the 
Messiah— that we are to regard him as the writer of the 
primeval and patriarchal history ; and if it is evident that 
he recognized the Messiah in the person of the Messen- 



IX MIOSES AXI) THE PKOPHETS. 69 

ger Jehovah, and that in all his subsequent narratives 
he designated the same official person by the terms Je- 
hovah, Elohim, and Elohe, as well as by the terms Mes- 
senger, Adon, and Adonai, then it is safe to conclude that 
he intended to designate the same Person by the same 
terms in the earlier history. 

At the period of the legation of Moses, the word 
Elohim was in familiar use in Egypt and among the 
Israelites as the designation of the object of religious 
homage ; very probably it was the only name of God 
known to the people generally. Moses accordingly, in 
the first two chapters of Exodus, which probably were 
written before the book of Genesis, employs that name 
only. The third chapter opens with the announcement 
of the Messenger Jehovah appearing in the bush, and 
in its progress applies to him indifferently the names 
Elohim and Jehovah ; and in the fourth and ensuing 
chapters, the same, and Adonai and El-Shadai, but 
frequently Jehovah. 

If now we suppose the book of Genesis to have been 
.written by him after the events in Egypt, at the Red 
Mid at mount Sinai, and the setting up of the 
tabernacle, (which occurred about twelve months after 
the exodus,) where the people, though generally fami- 
liar only with the name Elohim, must have become in 
some degree used to the name Jehovah, we may per- 
disceru a fitness and beauty in the first announce- 
ments of the Creator in Genesis; where r in the first 
r and the first three verses of the second, the 
name Elohim only is used; in the second, from the 
Iburth verse, the name Jehovah Elohim, and in the en- 
suing chapters these names separately and conjointly, 
and various other designations, as Melach Jehovah, 
i. and El-Shadai. In numerous instances the 



70 THE MESSIAH 

articleis prefixed to the name Elohim. as if emphatically 

to designate the God of Israel, the Creator, as the true 

Eloliim, iri distinction from the false god of idolaters. 

By this method he recalled, and reestablished in the 

mimls of the people, all the Divine designations known 
to the patriarchs of preceding ages, and their reference 
and applicability as designations to the one mediatorial 
Person ; rendering it plain that the Elohim of the Israel- 
ites in Egypt, and of the first chapter of Genesis, was 
identical with Jehovah, Melach the Messenger, Adonai, 
&c. In this view the resemblance of the first versus of 
the Gospel of John is noticeable, considering that it 
. was his object to identify the Christ, as he appeared 
visibly incarnate, with Elohim the Creator announced 
in the first verses of Genesis. 

Let it then be observed that in the narrative, Exod. iii. 
and iv., it is evident that one Divine personage only is 
referred to and designated by the several titles which are 
employed. That Divine personage appeared to Mose* 
in the Shekina or visible glory, the bright cloud-like en- 
velope so familiar afterwards on mount Sinai and in the 
tabernacle. Moses, recording this appearance, says, " The 
Messenger Jehovah appeared to him." This was a person 
bearing an official title— one sent— the Messenger of the 
Covenant, for whose appearance incarnate John Baptist 
was to prepare the way, Mai. iii. Moses turned to 
behold the sight. And when Jehovah, he who appeared 
in the visible glory, the Messenger, saw that he turned 
aside to see, Elohim, that is, the person in the visible 
Shekina, "called unto him out of the midst of the bush, 
and said, I am the Elohe oi' thy father, the Elohe of 
Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob. 
And Moses hid his face; for he was afaid to look 
upon Elohim ;" that is, upon the ineffable glory of the 



IN .MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 71 

Person, the Messenger Jehovah, the Elohim, who thus 
visibly appeared to him. " And Jehovah said, I have 
surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, 
and have heard their cry, . . . and I am come downto de- 
liver them:" come down as a Person, so as to be locally 
and visibly present. The Elohim to whom the children 
of Israel cried, (chap, ii.,) and who heard their cry, is, on 
his first appearing visibly, called the Messenger Jeho- 
vah, and here announces himself to be Jehovah who had 
heard their cry and come down to deliver them. So 
surely therefore as these acts of seeing the affliction of 
Vhe people, hearing their cry, coming down, and speak- 
ing to Moses, are the acts of a Person, this narrative and 
these several designations relate to one and the same 
Person ; and this Person is shown to be the Messiah by 
his official title. 

It being thus manifest that, as a Person locally and 
visibly appearing, these several designations were equally 
applicable to him, Moses in the next ensuing verses 
culls him Elohim, and asks by what name he shall desig- 
nate him to the children of Israel. It is to be observed 
that there is no record of any visible appearance of the 
Messenger Jehovah prior to this since the days of 
Jacob ; and it is probable that the names Jehovah and 
Messenger J- hovah, though known to the true worship- 
pers, were not familiar to the people generally. But 
these designations being peculiar, and more distinguish- 
ing than thai of Elohim, which was in common use 
among idolaters, were now to be proclaimed and brought 
into familiar use. " And Elohim said unto Moses, I 
am that I am: and lie said, Thus shalt thou say unto 
the children of [srael, I AM hath sent me unto you :" 
expressions equivalenl to those of John, "'in him was 
life." '•! an. he thai liveth;" that is, the self-existent. 



72 TI1E ME8SIAB 

".And Elohiin said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt 
thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah Elohe 
of your fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of 
Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. 
... Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and 
say unto them, Jehovah Elohe of your fathers, the 
Elohe of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, anf.eared 
unto me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that 
which is done to you in Egypt." But it was the Mes- 
senger Jehovah who appeared to him, and speaking from 
the midst of the bush said, " I am the Elohe of thy 
father, the Elohe of Abraham, the Elohe of Isaac, and the 
Elohe of Jacob. ... I have surely seen the affliction of 
my p'-opk which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry." 

Again: "The elders of Israel shall hearken to thy 
voice, and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of 
Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto 
hiin, Jehovah Elohe of the Hebrews hath met with us. 
. . . And now let us go that we may sacrifice to Jehovah 
our Elohe." Jehovah Elohe of the Hebrews, and the 
Angel Jehovah who appeared to Moses, is therefore one 
and the same Person. The Messenger Jehovah, the Per- 
boii who locally and visibly met with Moses, was the 
Elohe of the patriarchial dispensation. 

Id what follows, chap, iv., for the encouragement and 
confirmation of Moses, the power of working miracles is 
imparted to him by Jehovah, that the people might 
"believe that Jehovah Elohe of their fathers, the Elohe 
of Abraham, and the Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of 
Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." By thus demonstrat- 
ing the reality of the appearance, he would no less con- 
clusively show that the appearancs of the Messenger 
Jehovah was no other than the appearance locally and 
personally of the Elohe of their fathers. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 73 

Jehovah, still conversing with Moses, said, (^erse 11,) 
" Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, 
or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, Je- 
hovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy 
mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." Here the 
same Person, the Messenger, asserts the prerogatives of 
Creator, and the office of prophet or teacher. When 
Moses and Aaron had gathered the elders of Israel, 
" Aaron spake all the words which Jehovah had spoken 
unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 
And the people believed ; and when they heard that 
Jehovah," that is, the Messenger, "had visited the chil- 
dren of Israel, and that he had looked upon their afflic- 
tions," which the Messenger asserted of himself, " then 
they bowed their heads and worshipped." 

In the progress of the narrative, and throughout the 
writings of Moses, the use of the same Divine appella- 
tions as in chap. iii. and iv., indifferently and inter- 
changeably, with reference to the same acts, leaves no 
room to doubt but that the same Divine personage is 
uniformly referred to. Generally, that Person is called 
Jehovah when he speaks to Moses. When he appears 
visibly, as in the cloudy pillar, he is called the Messen- 
ger Jehovah. When his attributes or relations, as in 
covenant, are referred to, he is called the Elohe. In all 
alike he is the official Person, the Messiah, the 
Messenger of the Covenant. Hence Stephen, Acts vii., 
referring to the whole period of Moses' intercourse with 
him, Bays, "This Moses is he that was in the church in 
Less with the MrssfiKjcr which spake to him 
in the mount Sinai, and with oar fathers, who received 
the lively oracles to give unto us." Thus it was the 
Messenger who spoke to Moses and to the elders and 
people at mount Sinai, though he is there called Jeho- 
4 



74 THE MESSIAH 

vah and Elohim. " And Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, 
I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may- 
hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. 
. . . And Jehovah came down upon mount Sinai on 
the top of the mount. . . . And Elohim spake all these 
words, saying, I am Jehovah thy Elohe, which have 
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, &c. . . . And 
the people [at the close of the scene] said unto Moses, 
Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not Elo- 
him speak with us lest we die." Exod. xix., xx. Here 
the several Divine appellations are by Moses employed 
to designate the Person whom Stephen calls the Mes- 
senger. And Moses, Deut. v., says, " Jehovali talked 
with you face to face in the mount, out of the midst of 
the fire." 

Once more, Exod. xiv. 19, Moses, speaking of the 
passage of the Israelites through the sea, says, "The 
Messenger Elohim, which went before the camp of 
Israel, removed and went behind them ; and the pillar 
of the cloud went from before their face, and stood 
behind them : and it came between the camp of the 
Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud 
and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to 
these." Here the same Person who is elsewhere called 
the Messenger Jehovah, is called the Messenger Elohim. 
This Person, and his change of position, are distin- 
guished from the cloudy pillar, and its removal from 
the front to the rear of the camp. The Divine acts 
which ensued are ascribed to Jehovah ; among which 
we are told that " Jehovah, looked unto the host of the 
Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and 
troubled the host of the Egyptians." But it was the 
Messenger who was in the pillar of fire, (the Shekina,) 
and who therefore looked through the pillar of cloud 



EN" MOSES AKD THE PROPHETS. 75 

which had been interposed between him and the 
Egyptians. 

Suppose the Israelites under Moses to have had a 
knowledge, by previous revelations, of the truth con- 
cerning the person and work of Christ, and the way 
of salvation through him. In that case, such revela- 
tions not being committed to writing prior to Moses, 
but having been matter of oral instruction, were sig- 
nificantly expressed in an outward and visible manner 
by typical sacrifices, and other religious rites and pre- 
scriptions. By complying with these rites, the devout 
Israelite expressed his faith in the revealed truths 
which they were employed to recall and commemo- 
rate. The visible types were illustrative of revealed 
^truths already known. They were not the medium of 
a revelation, but a medium through which faith in an 
existing revelation and obedience to it were expressed. 
Their office was not prophetic, but illustrative. 

Thus, when under the Levitical economy the high 
priest, duly prepared and arrayed, entered the most holy 
place, his official person and acts constituted a striking- 
visible emblem of certain truths concerning the Messiah's 
person and sacerdotal work. Beholding that visible 
token and illustration of these truths, the believer's faith 
illed into exercise. So when the priest offered 
a sacrifice of atonement and sprinkled the blood, 
burnt incense, or performed any other official act; and 
when the worshipper laid his hand on the head of 
the animal to be sacrificed, celebrated the paschal sup- 
per, ot complied in any other respect with the pre- 
Bcribed ritual. 

This method of worship and obedience through signi- 
fioanl tokens and risible emblems, and types illustrative 
of known truths, was instituted soon after the fall, and 



76 THE MESSIAH 

suited in all respects the economy of outward and visi- 
ble manifestation which prevailed down to the advent of 
Christ Thus Abel, the patriarchs and prophets, wor- 
shipped, and thus Simeon and Anna at the time of the 
incarnation. 

Of the patriarch Noah we read, Genesis vi.-ix., 
that he found grace in the eyes of Jehovah ; that 
he was a righteous man; that he walked with (the) 
Elohim ; that Elohim repeatedly spoke to him, directed 
him to build an ark, and prescribed the form of it, 
forewarned him of the deluge and of its object, directed 
him to enter the ark, and shut him in ; that he did 
according to all that Jehovah commanded him ; that 
Elohim directed him to go forth from the ark ■ that 
he built an altar unto Jehovah, took of animals de- 
nominated clean, and offered burnt offerings on the 
altar, and was accepted; that Elohim blessed Noah 
and his sons, prescribed certain laws to be observed 
thereafter, and announced a covenant of which the 
rainbow was made a perpetual token. • 

In all these communications, the form of address 
is like that of a person locally and visibly present : 
" I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to 
destroy all flesh. . . . But with thee will I establish my 
covenant. . . . Come thou and all thy house into the ark ; 
for thee have I seen righteous before me, in this genera- 
tion. . . . Elohim spake unto Noah and to his sons with 
him, saying, I, behold, I establish my covenant with 
you and with your seed after you." And when 
Noah offered burnt offerings on the altar, "Jehovah 
smelled a sweet savor." From all which, and the occa- 
sion and nature of the things said and done, and a 
comparison of this with the occasions of local appear- 
ance to Abraham and others, which are declared to 



IN MOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 77 

have been visible, we may without presumption con- 
clude that He who spake to Noah was present in a 
visible form. That he was one of the most eminent 
and most favored of those with whom Jehovah con- 
versed, whose righteousness he attested, and to whom 
he assigned the most important services, aud im- 
parted the highest gifts, is shown by his being named 
first of the three, who, by their preeminent righteous- 
ness, might, if present, be expected by the captive Isra- 
elites to shield them from exterminating judgments. 
" Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, 
were in the land, they should deliver but their own 
souls by their righteousness, saith Jehovah Elohim." 
Ezekiel xiv. And if there was, in the course of the 
patriarchial or Levitical dispensations, any occasion on 
which the nature and magnitude of the events were 
reasons for the local and visible presence of Jehovah, 
surely that of the judicial destruction of the whole 
race, excepting Noah and his family, may be assumed 
to have been such. 

The word translated altar is from a root which sig- 
nifies to hill, to slaughter animals for sacrifice, to sacrifice; 
also a sacrifice, the victim, or thing, sacrificed; and in the 
form translated altar it denotes the place or instrument 
of sacrifice, on which the slaughtered victim (wholly 
or in part) was consumed by fire, and the blood 
poured out or sprinkled. See Levit. viii. 21, 24, xvii. 
6, and elsewhere. Accordingly, to build an altar unto 
Jehovah, was to erect a structure on which to offer to 
him slaughtered animals, to be consumed | probablyin all 
instances of acceptable worship) by lire caused immedi- 
ately by him. Such altars were, in many instances, and 
probably in all, erected by his direction, and at places 
specified by him, and they were places of customary 



78 THE MESSIAH 

worship and of Divine manifestation. It would there- 
fore be incongruous and preposterous to suppose that 
the worshippers did not understand the doctrines and 
typical references involved in the system, as well as 
the ritual forms and observances. 

The altar of burnt offerings, above referred to as 
the instrument of sacrifice by the shedding of blood, 
was typical of the cross as the instrument on which 
our Lord offered himself a sacrifice ; and to this un- 
doubtedly the true worshippers had reference, which 
implies a right apprehension of his person and office, as 
well as of the necessity and efficacy of his expiatory 
death, and its relation to the justification and acceptance 
of believers. His personal presence, in a form adapted 
to suggest such apprehensions, would seem to have 
been as necessary, when typical offerings were made 
by Abel, Noah, and others, during the patriarchial 
dispensation, as when made in the tabernacle and 
temple, where he was present in the visible Shekina, 
as is hereafter to be more particularly noticed. At 
present it may suffice to observe, that since he is de- 
clared to have been present in the likeness of man, 
and as the Melach Jehovah, on some occasions when 
burnt offerings were offered to him with his sanction 
and acceptance, as in that relating to Isaac in the 
history of Abraham, that of his appearance to Manoah, 
and that to Gideon, it may reasonably be inferred that 
his personal presence was equall}* requisite on all oc- 
casions of similar offerings. 

The local personal presence of Jehovah in the form 
in which he was often visible is implied and affirmed 
in passages like the following : 

When the children of Israel at Eephidim murmured 
against Moses because they had no water, Jehovah 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 79 

directed Moses to advance -with, the people and the 
elders, and said, " Behold, / will stand before thee upon 
the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock," &c. 
"And Moses called the name of the place Massah, &c, 
because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and 
because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah 
among us or not ?" Exod. xvii. 7 ; i. e., is he person- 
ally and locally present or not ? 

After the apostasy manifested in making a molten 
calf, Jehovah said to Moses, Depart with the people, 
&c, and I will send an angel before thee ; for I will 
not go up in the midst of thee, lest I consume thee, &c. 
Moses having removed the tabernacle out of the camp, 
the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the 
tabernacle; and Jehovah talked with Moses. And 
Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man 
speaketh unto his friend. Moses having expressed his 
great anxiety at the proposed substitution of an angel, 
and prayed for further instruction, Jehovah said, "My 
presence shall go with thee;" and he said, "If thy 
presence [i. e., thou, thyself] go not with me, carry us 
not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here 
that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? 
Is it not in that thou goest with us ? So shall we be 
separated, I and thy people, from all the people that 
arc upon the face of the earth." Moses, for further 
assurance, desired to see the splendor of Jehovah's per- 
son, and, in a modified degree, his request was granted. 
Jehovah descended — his glory passed b}', &c. Exod. 
xxxiii. 34. This whole scene implies his local personal 
presence, in distinction from his universal, invisible 
presence. 

The visible Deity is intended in all such phrases 
as, "before the Lord," "being seen," "going with," 



80 THE MESSIAH 



ence being manifest. 

" Ye have despised Jehovah which is among you." 
Numb. xi. 20. 

The Egyptians " have heard that thou, Jehovah, art 
among this people ; that thou ; Jehovah, art seen face to 
face ; and that thy cloud standeth over them ; and that 
thou goest before them by day-time in a pillar of a 
cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night." Numb. xiv. 
14. Thus Moses argued to avert the destruction threat- 
ened on occasion of the murmuring at the report of 
the spies. The passage clearly imports that it "was 
Jehovah himself who was seen face to face, and who 
went in the cloud. 

So when a portion of the people resolved presump- 
tuously to proceed, Moses says, Go not up, for Jehovah 
is not among } t ou. Numb. xiv. 42 ; Deut. i. 42. 

"The Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy 
camp." Deut. xxiii. 14. 

In the future misery and desolation of the people 
they will say, "Are not -these evils come upon us be- 
cause our God is not among us?" Deut. xxxi. 17. 

When the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan 
to Jericho, Joshua, referring to the miracle b}^ which 
they were to pass over dry-shod, says, " Hereby ye 
shall know that the living God is among you." 

Moses is directed to exclude lepers, "that they defile 
not the camp in the midst of which I dwell." Numb, 
v. 3. 

"The sons of God came to present themselves bepre 
Jehovah; and Satan came also amongst them." Job 
i. 6. The context shows that a local personal pres2nce 
is intended. 

" God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved." 



IN 31 OSES AND THE PROPHETS. 81 

Ps. xlvi. 5. " Great is the Holy One in the midst of 
thee." Isa. xii. 6. " I am God and not man, the Holy 
One in the midst of thee." Hosea xi. 9. "Thou, O 
Jehovah, art in the midst of us ; leave us not." Jer. 
xiv. 9. 

Joel, predicting the millennium, says, ii. 27," Ye shall 
know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am 
the Lord yoxiv God, and none else." See Zeph. hi. 15- 
17 : " The King of Israel, even Jehovah, is in the 
midst of thee ; thou shalt not see evil any more. The 
Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty." And 
Zech. ii. 5, x. 11, and viii. 3 : "For I, saith Jehovah, 
will be the glory in the midst of her. Lo, I come, 
and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. 
And man}* nations, &c. Thus saith Jehovah, I am 
returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of 
Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called, A city of 
truth ; and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts, The 
holy mountain." 

Jesus himself stood in the midst, &c. Luke xxiv. 36, 
John, &c. In the midst of the seven candlesticks. 
Rev. i. 13 ; ii. 1. In the midst of the throne stood a 
Lamb. Rev. v. 6. 

The angel Jehovah appeared in a flame of fire out of 
the midst of a bush. Exod. iii. 2. Jehovah spake out 
of tin- midst of the fire. Dcut, iv. 12. 

"Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo, / come to thee in a 
thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak 
with thee. Be ready, . . . for the third day Jehovah 
will come dovm in the sight of all the people upon 
mount Sinai. . . . And on the third day, in the morn- 
ing, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick 
cloud upon the mount. . . . And Moses brought forth 
4* 



82 THE MESSIAH 

the people out of the camp to meet with the Elohim ; 
and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And 
mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because Jeho- 
vah descended upon it in fire. . . . And . . Moses 
spake, and (the) Elohim answered him by a voice. 
And Jehovah came down upon mount Sinai, on the top 
of the mount; and Jehovah called Moses up to the top 
of the mount ; and Moses went up. . . . And Elohim 
spake, saying, I am Jehovah, thy Elohe. . . . Thou 
shalt have no other Elohim before me." Exod. xix., xx. 

If the acts here attributed to Moses are literally de- 
scribed, so also are those of Jehovah. If Moses literally 
went up to the top of the mount, the narrative no less 
plainly avers that Jehovah came down to the top of 
Sinai. He came down visibly — in the sight of the peo- 
ple; was personally and locally present. 

On another occasion, chap, xxiv., he said unto Moses, 
" Come vjj unto Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and 
Abihu, and seventy of the elders, and worship ye afar 
off; and Moses alone shall come near Jehovah, but they 
shall not come nigh. . . . Then went up Moses and 
Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders 
of Israel ; and they saw the Elohe of Israel, and there 
was under his feet as it were a paved work. . . . They 
saw (the) Elohim, and did eat and drink." 

No terms could well express more distinctly a per- 
sonal appearance, in the form seen by Abraham and 
others. His person was manifest to their senses. They 
ate and drank in his presence, who in the same form 
partook of a repast with the patriarch, and walked 
and conversed with him as one human person does 
with another. 

" Jehovah called unto Moses out of the midst of the 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 83 

cloud. . . . And Moses went into the midst of the 
cloud." Exod. xxvi. 16, 18. The cloud then was such 
that Moses could subsist in and be enveloped by it. 

"And Jehovah said, I will appear in the cloud upon 
the mercy-seat." Levit. xvi. 2. In this and similar in- 
stances a local personal appearance is evidently intended. 
No such phraseology would be suited to indicate the 
omnipresence, or merely the spiritual presence of Jeho- 
vah. See Deut. xxxi. 15. 

"And the cloud of Jehovah was upon them by day 
when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass 
when the ark set forward that Moses said, Rise up, Jeho- 
vah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that 
hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, 
Beturn, O Jehovah, unto the many thousands of Israel." 
Numb. x. 35, 36. 

On these occasions the cloud visibly rose above the 
tabernacle, and advanced before the children of Israel ; 
and again descended and rested on the tabernacle. 
The address of Moses seems unintelligible, unless Je- 
hovah was personally present. 

"And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud 
and stood in the door of the tabernacle. . . . And 
he said, With Moses will / speak mouth to mouth, even 
apparently; . . . and the similitude of Jehovah shall he 
behold." Numb. xii. Surely a local personal presence 
is here intended. 

" At the door of the tabernacle before Jehovah, I 
will meet you, to speak there unto thee; and there I 
will meet with the children of Israel ; and the taber- 
nacle shall be sanctified by my glory ; and I will dwell 
among the children of Israel, and will be their Elohim. 
And they shall know that I am Jehovah their Elohe, 
that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt 



84 THE MESSIAH 

that I may dwell among them." Exod. xxix. 42-46. 
"Defile not the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein 
I dwell : for I Jehovah dwell among the children of 
Israel." Numb. xxxv. 34. "I have not dwelt in any 
house since the time that I brought up the children 
of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have 
walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the 
places wherein I have walked with the children of 
Israel," &c. 2 Sam. vii., and 1 Chron. xvii. 

So of the phrases, "dwelleth between the cheru- 
bim," " sitteth between the cherubim," and the like, 
which imply the local personal presence of Jehovah. 

The local presence and agency of the Messenger Je- 
hovah, as Captain of his hosts, and dictator to Joshua of 
all the steps taken by him in the conquest and destruc- 
tion of the Canaanites, is clearly indicated throughout 
the book of Joshua. 

Joshua had, for forty years in the wilderness, as min- 
ister to Moses, been familiar with the personal presence, 
the agency, the miraculous power, and the voice of the 
Messenger, in the tabernacle, in the pillar of cloud by 
day and of fire by night, on mount Sinai, and on many 
peculiar and special occasions. 

His name properly signifies Saviour. The Hebrew 
word Jehoshua is equivalent to the Greek name Jesus, 
or Saviour. 

On the occurrence of the war with Amalek, shortly 
after the passage of the Eed Sea, Joshua was appointed 
by Moses to command the army of the Israelites. He 
led out the chosen men of war, while Moses, Aaron, and 
Hur took their station on a neighboring hill, where 
Moses held up the rod of God, as a token that all the 
success under Joshua, in the destruction of the Amalek- 
ites, was owing to the superior power of Jehovah ex- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 85 

erted specially on the occasion. When Moses held tip 
his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his 
hand, Amalek prevailed. 

The battle being ended by the discomfiture of Ama- 
lek and his people, Jehovah said unto Moses, "Write this 
for a memorial, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, 
That I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek 
from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and 
called the name of it Jehovah Nissi," i. e., the Lord my 
banner. Exod. xvii. 

Thus the supremacy and leadership of Jehovah was 
fully acknowledged. It was his war, executed under 
the lieutenancy of Joshua, in accordance with the spe- 
cific directions given to Moses, and in the exercise of 
faith in the will of Jehovah, as indicated by tokens of 
his appointment. 

On tbe occasion of the giving of the tables of stone, 
Joshua accompanied Moses, as his minister, into the 
mount of God. There they tarried forty days, while 
" the sight of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring 
fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children 
of Israel." The directions concerning the construction 
of the tabernacle were given on that occasion. Exod. 
xxiv. When they descended from the mount, Joshua 
seems first to have heard the shouting of the people 
the molten image they had made. Exod. xxxii* 

In the progress of the events which succeeded this 
defection, the cloudy pillar — the Shekina — descended 
from Sinai, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and 
lb talked with Moses. "And Jehovah spake unto 
Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. 
And Moses turned again into the camp, but his minis- 
ter Joshua departed not out of the tabernacle." He, 



86 THE MESSIAH 

therefore, doubtless heard and saw the same as Moses. 
Ibid, xxxiii. 

He was one of those sent to examine and report con- 
cerning the land of Canaan, Numb. xhi. ; on which 
occasion, Moses changed his name from Oshea to Jeho- 
shua. Ten of those sent were unfaithful. The joint 
report of Joshua and Caleb was true and faithful. The 
ten were destroyed by a plague; the two were pro- 
tected and preserved. Ibid. xiv. 

Joshua was specially set apart as the successor of 
Moses, and consecrated by the laying on of Moses' 
hands, in the presence of the high priest and the con- 
gregation. Numb, xxvii. He, with the high priest, 
was appointed to divide the land. Ibid, xxxiv. When 
Moses was forbidden to enter the good land,' he was no- 
tified that his minister Joshua would lead the children 
of Israel thither, and commanded to encourage him. 
Deut. i. 38. This he did, Deut. hi., and more emphati- 
cally, chap, xxxi., when in the presence of all Israel he 
encouraged him, and cited the predictions concerning 
his causing the people to inherit the land; adding, 
"And Jehovah, he it is that doth go before thee; he will 
be with thee ; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee ; 
fear not, neither be dismayed." 

On the death of Moses, we read that " Joshua, the son 
of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses 
had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel 
hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah commanded 
Moses." Deut. xxxiv. 

Notwithstanding all this training, discipline, and in- 
timate fellowship with Moses for forty years, and the 
premonitions, designations and predictions of him, as 
leader of Israel in place of Moses ; yet such was the 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 87 

sacredness and specialty of the relation in which he was 
to officiate, that Jehovah spake unto Joshua, charged 
him with the duties he was to perform, and promised 
him victor}' and complete success, in case of his fidelity. 
"As I was with Moses, so I will he with thee. I will 
not fail nor forsake thee. Have not I commanded thee ? 
Be strong and of a good courage ; be not afraid, neither 
be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee 
whithersoever thou goest." Josh. i. 

Joshua was to act only upon the authority expressly 
delegated to him, and in the strictest subordination to 
the directions previously given to Moses, and those 
which Jehovah now and from time to time announced 
to him. The circumstances, like those which attended 
Moses at the commencement and throughout his official 
life, required an assured and unwavering faith in the 
declared purposes, the promises, the presence and poAver 
of Jehovah the Elohe of Israel, the king, preserver, 
teacher, and guide of his people. 

There was, no doubt, a degree of mysteriousness con- 
nected with the personal and local manifestations of Je- 
hovah, which rendered an unwavering faith constantly 
requisite. The minds of men, no less at that than at 
other periods, were most readily and strongly affected 
by visible and familiar objects. The chief incitements to 
idolatry were visible, and such as were supposed to be 
easily comprehended. The fears of men, founded in 
theii consciousness of guilt and ignorance, had reference 
naturally t" things invisible and mysterious. The con- 
scious depravity, corruption, blindness and ill desert of 
men, in contrast with the perfect holiness, righteousness, 
impartiality, and other perfections of Jehovah, could 
not but excite their natural inclination to exclude him 



88 THE MESSIAH 

from their thoughts, instead of loving and confiding in 
him, and realizing bis presence by faith. 

Whether for these or other reasons, a strong, constant, 
unwavering faith in the person and the perfections, pre- 
rogatives and works of Jehovah, was not uniformly 
exhibited even by the patriarchs and prophets of the 
ancient dispensation. That dispensation was specially 
characterized as one of outward and visible manifestations, 
miraculous interpositions, and audible revelations ; yet 
in the most signal instances of strong faith as occasion- 
ing it, some special and overpowering manifestation of 
Jehovah was vouchsafed. Thus Abraham, on the occa- 
sion of entering into and ratifying the covenant concern- 
ing the everlasting inheritance of the promised land by 
his posterity, through Christ as his Seed; the Shekina 
visibly appeared, passed between the pieces of the sacri- 
fice, and probably consumed them. And again, prior 
to the destruction of Sodom, when that event was re- 
vealed, and the earlier promises were renewed to him, 
Jehovah appeared in the form of man, and conversed 
and walked with him. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Narrative concerning Job. 

In the narrative concerning Job, who is supposed to 
have lived in the age preceding that of Abraham, we 
read, chapter i., that he from time to time offered burnt 
offerings continually ; and that " there was a day when 
the sons of (the) Elohim came to present themselves 
before Jehovah, and Satan came also among them. And 
Jehovah said unto Satan, Whence comest thou ? — And 
Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah." A 
statement in the same words is made in relation to an- 
other day, chapter ii. ; from which passages it appears that 
Job, as priest of his family, offered typical sacrifices 
according to the custom of that age; and that there was 
a place to which the true worshippers came to present 
themselves before Jehovah — a place doubtless of cus- 
tomary resort for worship, and, from the analogy of the 
patriarchal history, of visible manifestation. They came 
there to present themselves before Jehovah, implying 
that he was personally and locally present; which is also 
[y implied in the statement, on both occasions, 
that Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah. That 
adversary and accuser of the sonsof Elohim was literally 
present, and it is not perceived how he could be said to 
go forth from the spiritual presence of Jehovah. It is 
probable that he was not visible to the worshippers, and 
that neither the words addressed to him, nor his replies, 
were audible to them. But those words proceeded from 
Him from whose presence he went forth. 



THE MESSIAH 

However this may be, it is evident from subsequent 
passages that Job had clear apprehensions of the person 
and office of the Redeemer, and recognized him as Je- 
hovah in the administration of providence. To that 
I person he doubtless refers under the designation 
'. translated Almighty, which he employs more 
than thirty times ; which appears from Exod. vi. to have 
; imiliar to the patriarchs, and which, from a com- 
i of passages from the Old and Xew Testaments, 
signified the same divine Person as Melach Jehovah. In 
one instance only he employs the term Adonai as a 
Divine designation — namely, in the passage concerning 
Wisdom, chap, xxviii. : "Elohim understandeth the way 
thereof. When he made a decree for the rain, then did 
he see it. And unto man he said, Behold the fear of 
Adonai, that is wisdom." In chapter xix. he refers to the 
same Person under an official designation of frequent 
occurrence. " I know that my Eedeemer liveth, and 
that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; 
and ... in my flesh shall I see Eloah." The word 
Goel, translated Redeemer, is employed with the same 
reference in the following among other passages : " Me- 
.ach the Messenger, which redeemed me from all evil." 
Gen. xlviii. "Let the words of my mouth, and the 
meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O 
Jehovah, my strength and my Redeemer" Ps. xix. 
" And they remembered that Elohim was their rock, 
and El, their Eedeemer" Ps. lxxviii. "Thus saith 
Jehovah your Redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel." 
Isa. xliii. 14. " Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, 
and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth." Ibid. xliv. 6. 
" Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, and he that formed 
thee, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, that stretch- 
eth forth the heavens alone," &c. Isa. xliv. 24. "All 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 91 

flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour, and 
thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isa. xlix. 26. 

The original word, as a verb, signifies to redeem, to 
ransom; and as a noun, a kinsman, blood relation, one 
having a right, or to whom it pertained, to redeem ; re- 
deemer, kinsman-redeemer. Hence, when employed as 
in the passages above cited, it includes a reference to the 
complex person of Christ, and to Eloah in human nature, 
as spoken of prospectively by Job. 

At the close of his appointed trial, when the integrity 
of Job had been vindicated, and the imputations and 
predictions of the adversaiy confuted, a different and 
more glorious manifestation of Jehovah was made to 
him, a manifestation adapted and designed — like that to 
Ezekiel, chap, i., in the likeness of a man on a throne 
in the midst of fire and cloud, moving as in a whirlwind, 
and like that to Isaiah, chap, vi., and that to the disci- 
ples on the holy mount — to impart to him new and more 
exalted apprehensions of the perfections, prerogatives, 
and works of Jehovah ; to fit the humbled and penitent 
beholder for the gifts and honors he was to receive, the 
duties he was to perform, and the conspicuous station he 
was to occupy as one whose righteousness had been pub- 
licly tried and divinely attested. " Jehovah answered 
Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Where wast thou when 
I laid the foundations of the earth ?" &c. ; adding a pro- 
longed detail of his works of creation and providence, 
and contrasting the ignorance and nothingness of man 
with the operations of his wisdom and power. Job an- 
Bwered : " Behold, 1 am vile, what shall I answer thee? 
I will lay my hand upon my mouth." He confesses his 
sin I'u In oss, the ignorance and errors which had marked 
his replies to his Mends, and adds: "I have heard of 
thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth 



92 THE MESSIAH 

thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
ashes." He saw him in that ineffable and, to mortals, 
all but insupportable splendor of glory, which caused 
such an impression of his deity and his holiness, as in 
contrast to make him conscious of his own vileness as 
a sinner, and induce in him the utmost self-abasement ; 
as in the parallel instance of Ezekiel, it is said that "he 
fell upon his face ;" and in that of Isaiah, that he ex- 
claimed, on seeing Adonai Jehovah Zebaoth, " Woe is 
me ! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean 
lips ;" and of Daniel, in an analogous instance of his 
vision of the same glorified Person in the likeness of 
man, chap, x., that he fell with his face to the ground, 
that there remained no strength in him, that his comeli- 
ness was turned into corruption. So at the Transfigura- 
tion on the mount, the disciples fell on their faces and 
were sore afraid. Paul, on witnessing a like personal 
manifestation, fell to the earth ; and John, in Patmos, 
seeing that glorified Person, fell at his feet as dead. 

There was prevalent, at a very early period, a senti- 
ment that to see God would occasion or be followed by 
the death of the beholder ; which probably arose, not 
from simple appearances in the likeness of man, on occa- 
sions which called for no exhibitions of Divine majesty 
and glory, but from manifestations of overpowering, 
insupportable radiance, comparable only to that of light- 
ning, or that of the unclouded sun. Such a manifesta- 
tion we may well suppose to have been made on the 
expulsion of Adam from Eden, in conjunction with the 
cherubic forms, as in repeated instances afterwards. It 
was demanded by the occasion and the end to be accom- 
plished. There were sword-like flames, or lightnings, 
as when Moses brought forth the people out of the camp 
to meet with (the) Elohim, when he descended on mount 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 93 

Sinai ; and they, terrified by the lightnings, said, " Let 
not Elohim speak with us, lest we die ;" and as in the 
vision of Ezekiel, "out of the fire went forth lightning." 
So when the seventy elders ascended mount Sinai with 
Moses, " and saw the Elohe of Israel, the sight of the 
glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire." 

The sentiment or apprehension above referred to is 
indicated by Jacob, after wrestling with the Messenger 
Jehovah: "I have seen Elohim face to face, and my 
life is preserved." 11 Also in the words addressed to Gideon 
after he had exclaimed, "Alas, O Adonai Jehovah! for 
because I have seen the Messenger Jehovah face to face. 
And Jehovah said unto him, Fear not, thou shalt not 
die." And, " Manoah said unto his wife, "We shall surely 
die, because we have seen Elohim." Such an inference 
is very likely to have been drawn from the declaration 
of Jehovah to Moses, Exod. xxxiii. 20 : " Thou canst 
not see my face : for there shall no man see me and live ;" 
that is, see me unveiled by the human form, or by a dark 
or luminous cloud-like envelope, as in the burning bush, 
on mount Sinai, and in the tabernacle ; for in these 
modes of appearance Moses had repeatedly seen him, 
and in the chapter above referred to, vs. 9, we read that, 
"As Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar 
descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle ; and 
Jeh< »vah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh 
onto bifl friend." But, owing to the defection of Aaron 
and the people in making and worshipping a molten 
image, be bad, to the consternation of Moses, intimated 
a purpose to withdraw from among them ; and after he 
had, upon the earnest entreaty of Moses, signified that 
Lis presence should continue with them, Moses, in his 
anxiety and perturbation, and perhaps fearing that he 
would not visibly manifest himself, (see vs. 16,) besought 



94 THE MESSIAH 

that be would show him his glory, the unclouded glory 
of his person. This was denied, as certain to be fatal. 
But as far as he could endure the sight and live, the 
request was granted. "And Jehovah descended in the 
cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name 
of Jehovah. And Moses made haste and bowed his 
head toward the earth, and worshipped." 



CHAPTER X. 



Further notice of Divine Manifestations to Abraham and Jacob — Mys- 
teriousness attending the Divine Appearances — The visible Form 
always like that of Man. 

In resuming the notice of expressions and statements 
in the history of the patriarchs, which imply the local 
and visible presence of Jehovah, the first to be referred 
to is in Gen. xii. : " Now Jehovah had said unto Abram, 
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and 
from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee ; 
and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, 
and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing ; 
and in thee" — thy seed, which is Christ, Gal. iii. 16 — 
" shall all the families-of the earth be blessed. So Abram 
departed, as Jehovah had spoken unto him. And Abram 
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of 
Haran . . . to go into the land of Canaan." He had, some 
time before this, migrated with Terah his father from 
Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, as is related chap. xi. 31. 
That removal, by which probably he was separated from 
idolatrous neighbors, is thus referred to, chap. xv. 7 : 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 95 

"And Jehovah said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought 
thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land 
to inherit it." And again, Nehemiah ix. 7 : " Thou art 
Jehovah (the) Elohim, who didst choose Abram, and 
broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees." From 
these references it is apparent that he was chosen, called. 
and received immediate personal communications from 
Jehovah, whom he afterwards saw in the form of man, 
and knew as El-Shadai, Jehovah, Adonai Jehovah, and 
Melach Jehovah. 

Having arrived at the plain of Moreh, in the land of 
Canaan, "Jehovah, appeared unto Abram and said, Unto 
thy seed will I give this land : and there builded he an 
altar unto Jehovah who appeared unto him." Consider- 
ing the reiterated statement in this brief passage that 
Jehovah appeared to Abram ; that the occasion was that 
of the first formal announcement of the great promise of 
that dispensation to which all subsequent revelations, 
covenants and promises to Abraham relate; that on 
the most explicit renewal of this promise, chap. xxii. 
18, Melach Jehovah is the speaker; and that Abram 
signalized the occasion of this first announcement by 
erecting an altar to Jehovah, and doubtless offering burnt 
offerings thereon, there seems sufficient ground to con- 
clude that this was an instance of local visible presence. 

Abram next removed to a mount east of Beth-El, " and 
there lie builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon 
the name of Jehovah." Chap. xii. 8. On the occurrence 
of a famine he went down \<> IOgypt, whence he returned 
to Beth-El, '• unto the place of the altar which he had 
made there at the first, and there Abram called on the 
name of Jehovah." xiii. 4. These passages indicate his 
of offering typical sacrifices, and calling on the 
name of Jehovah at the place set apart, for the time being, 



96 THE MESSIAH 

to that purpose ; and from the nature of the case, and 
its analogy to other recorded instances (as Gen. xxxii. 
13) of such offerings to Melach Jehovah, there is no 
ground to suppose that the same official Person was not 
the immediate object of homage in the present instance. 

So of the ensuing narrative, Gen. xiii. 14-18 : "And 
Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated 
from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the 
place where thou art, northward and southward and 
eastward and westward ; for all the land which thou seest, 
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." " Then 
Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the 
plain of Mamre, and built there an altar unto Jehovah." 

In chapter xv. we read that "The Word of (rather 
who is) Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying ( 
Fear not, Abram ; I am thy shield and thy exceeding 
great reward. And Abram said, Adonai Jehovah, what 
wilt thou give me, &c. And behold, the Word (who is) 
Jehovah came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine 
heir ; . . . and He brought him forth abroad and said, Look 
now toward heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to 
number them ; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed 
be. And he believed in Jehovah, and He counted it to 
him for righteousness. And he said unto Him, Adonai 
Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it ?" 
In this narrative the Personal Word appears to be desig- 
nated by a term equivalent to Logos, as applied in the 
first chapter of John, namely, Dabar, importing the same 
as the Chaldee term Memra, frequently inserted with the 
same personal reference by the Chaldee paraphrasts. The 
Dabar (who is) Jehovah came unto Abram, saying, . . . 
He brought him forth abroad, and said, &c. These are per- 
sonal acts, not to be affirmed of an audible voice. They 
imply the local presence of the speaker, whom Abram 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 97 

addresses as Adonai Jehovah. Throughout the chapter 
he is the speaker. Abram's faith in him as Jehovah is 
unto righteousness. In this, as in some instances here- 
after to be noticed, the sense and construction of the 
passage seem to require that the term translated Word 
should be considered a personal designation, having the 
same relation to the term Jehovah as Adon, Adonai, 
and Melach. 

On the occasion of changing the patriarch's name to 
Abraham, and that of his wife to Sarah, chap, xvii., 
11 Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am 
El Shadai ; walk before me, and be thou perfect. . . . 
And Abram fell on his face, and Elohim talked with 
him," vs. 1, 3 ; and vs. 19, 22 : "Elohim said, Sarah thy 
wife shall bear thee a son indeed. . . . And Elohim went 
up from Abraham." Here the phraseology in each of the 
clauses quoted implies a local personal presence of Je- 
hovah. That it was a visible appearance is further im- 
plied in the next chapter, where, in the narrative of his 
appearance in the likeness of man, he refers to this prom- 
ise of a son as having been made by him, vs. 10 ; and 
to remove the doubts of both Abraham and Sarah, he 
adds : "Is any thing too hard for Jehovah ? At the time 
appointed I icill return unto thee, according to the time 
of life, and Sarah shall have a son." 

Of the appearance last referred to, chap, xviii., when, 
in the form of a wayfaring man, he partook of the repast 
prepared by Abraham, spoke concerning Sarah, walked 
towards Sodom, disclosed his purpose of destroying that 
place, and heard Abraham's request on behalf of the 
righteous, there can be no question of its having been 
local and visible. It is noticeable that the narrative of 
thi.s manifestation is introduced by the same formula as 
others which include no express indications of his visi- 

5 



98 THE MESSIAH 

bility. Thus, vs. 1 : "And Jehovah appeared unto Abra- 
ham in the plains of Mamre." In the progress of the 
narrative, the Divine visitant is called a man, Jehovah, 
and Adonai ; and at its close it is said that "Jehovah 
went his way" — literally, " walked away" — as " soon as 
he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham 
returned to his place." In the next chapter, which re- 
lates the destruction of Sodom, the same Person is called 
Jehovah and Elohim. "Abraham gat up early in the 
morning to the place where he stood before Jehovah' 1 '' — 
that is, before the visible Person in the likeness of man, 
to whom he addressed his prayers for the righteous. 
"And it came to pass when Elohim destroyed the cities 
of the plain, that Elohim remembered Abraham." 

When the time had arrived for Jacob to withdraw from 
Laban, " Jehovah said unto him, Return unto the land 
of thy fathers." Gen. xxxi. 3. Referring to this, vs. 7, 
he says : " The Elohe of my father hath been with me." 
After relating to his family something of the treatment 
he had received from Laban, and of the special favor of 
Elohim to him, he recurs to the command above quoted, 
vs. 11-13 : "And Melach (the) Elohim spake unto me in 
a dream and said, I am the El of Beth-El, where thou 
anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto 
me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return 
unto the land of thy kindred. . . . And Rachel and 
Leah answered, . . . Now, whatsoever Elohim hath said 
unto thee, do." The statements in the two clauses first 
above cited evidently refer to the same occasion as those 
which follow ; and therefore the Elohe of his father, 
who had been with him, was Melach, the Messenger 
Elohim who spoke to him, vs. 11, and who doubtless 
appeared to him to be present, in a form with which he 
was familiar. This is further implied in the words at the 



IX MOSES A>*D THE PROPHETS. 99 

close of his remonstrance with. Laban, vs. 42 : " Except 
the Elohe of my father, the Elohe of Abraham, and the 
Fear of Isaac had been with me, surely thou hadst sent 
me away now empty. Elohim hath seen my affliction, 
and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yester- 
night/' 

The familiarity of Jacob with the visible presence of 
Jehovah is indicated by his expression when, to his sur- 
prise and joy, Esau met him with a kindness and cor- 
diality which showed that he no longer harbored any 
ill-will towards him. Jacob urged him to receive his 
present, and said : "I have seen thy face, as though it 
had been the face of Elohim, and thou wast pleased with 
me," chap, xxxiii. 10 ; implying that this personal inter- 
view and manifestation of favor produced an effect upon 
his feelings resembling that of visible Divine manifesta- 
tions, to which he was accustomed; a signal instance of 
which had just occurred, chap, xxxii., when "he saw 
Elohim face to face." 

Doubtless there was a degree of mysteriousness in- 
separable from these appearances of the Divine Person, 
arising, however, not from their infrequency, for they 
Beldom seem to have occasioned surprise, but rather 
from the different forms of manifestation, the different 
degrees of visibility; a consciousness that He who was 
sometimes visibly present was, when unseen, not ab- 
s.'iit ; qoI less cognizant of their thoughts and actions, 
nor less their preserver and defender. They knew that 
Id, at pleasure, render himself visible in the sim- 
mi of man, in a vision, in a dense or a luminous 
aloud, in the colors of the precious gems and minerals, 
and in the insupportable splendors of the solar and elec- 
brie fires. They knew that he was of purer eyes than 
to behold iniquity with any allowance, and were con- 



100 THE MESSIAH 

scions of their defilement and ill-desert. Their faith 
reposed on him, unseen as well as manifest ; and when 
he was locally present to their senses, it was necessary 
to exclude or modify their accustomed discrimination 
between spiritual and physical, invisible and visible 
conditions and modes of being. 

There must have been, besides a familiarity with the 
fact of his visible appearances, a well-established asso- 
ciation of authorized and intelligent convictions in their 
minds respecting his official person and character, the 
nature of his agency, his mediatorial relations, which 
assumed a covenant or stipulated relationship of man 
with the Deity in his Person, and harmonized the Divine 
in his manifestations with the human in his visible form ; 
all which necessarily involved more or less of the mys- 
terious and unknown. Yet they well understood the 
tokens which identified him, and, if not exhibited in the 
first moments of his appearance, recognized them as soon 
as given, and promptly rendered him the homage, ad- 
dressed him by the titles, and ascribed to him the prero- 
gatives and works of the Creator, Proprietor, Euler and 
Eedeemer of the world. 

But he was not at all times visible. The patriarchs 
lived by faith as well for the most part of their days 
and years, perhaps, with respect to him personally, as 
with respect to the futffre issues of his interpositions and 
administration. They could not see him at their plea- 
sure, even when his words or acts indicated that he was 
locally near them. "Lo, he goeth by me," saith Job, 
'• and I see him not : he passeth on, also, but I perceive 
him not. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there ; and 
back ward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, 
where he doth work, but I cannot behold him ; he hideth 
himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him ; but he 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 101 

knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I 
shall come forth as gold." 

It would seem to have been by an effect wrought in 
them, both when awake and when asleep, that he, and 
also that created spiritual beings, when locally present, 
became visible or manifest to their consciousness. In 
several instances the eyes of the beholders are said to 
be opened, not to behold objects ordinarily visible, but 
objects which, though present, it was not, without that 
operation, their privilege to see. Thus, in the narra- 
tive of Balaam, " the Messenger Jehovah stood in the 
as an adversary against him," and repeatedly 
checked his progress, while to him invisible. At length, 
"Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the 
nger Jehovah standing in the way, and his sword 
drawn in his hand," &e. So in the case of the servant 
of Elisha : "Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, 
and he saw, and behold, the mountain was fall of horses 
and chariots of fire, round about Elisha." And of the 
disciples on the way to Emmaus in company with the 
risen Saviour, it is said, "their eyes were holden that 
they should not know him;" and at length "their eyes 
were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out 
of their sight." 

Considering that in all ages and countries the minds 
of men have been startled and thrown off their balance 
by tin- supposed apparition of spirits, real or imaginary, 
angelic or human, from ili<- invisible world, whether in 
mat. -rial ot in impalpable formsj and have regarded 
th'ni as inscrutably mysterious and appalling, the fact 
ich impressions of surprise and dread were not 
Commonly occasioned, <>r are so slightly indicated, when 
tli-' Messenger Jehovah was unexpectedly and visibly 
recognized, strongly implies that the beholders were 



102 THE MESSIAH 

familiar not only with the reality and the modes of his 
appearance, but with his official Person, character and 
relations. 

The statements and intimations contained in the Holy 
Scriptures concerning the celestial beings comprehen- 
sively called angels, warrant the conclusion, that the 
faculties by which they perceive external "objects are 
analogous to those of man. They see and hear, and are 
seen and heard, in a way similar to that of the bodied 
human race. They have the faculty of becoming visible 
to men, and when visible, they have, in all recorded 
instances, the human form. It is obvious that, in order 
to be discernible by the human eye, they must have a 
specific form ; and accordingly, both with reference to 
the Messenger who is Jehovah, and to the created 
angels, such is the case in each and every instance of 
visibility. Thus in the case of the three who, in the 
form of men, appeared to Abraham, prior to the destruc- 
tion of Sodom. In form, the three appeared alike, and 
the two were distinguished from the One only by the 
circumstances which ensued. 

To created angels appearing visibly in this manner, 
it is clear that the same laws of optics and acoustics are 
available as to men, only in a far higher degree. That 
they saw objects which are naturally visible to men as 
clearly as men see them, and heard sounds and voices 
audible to them as distinctly as they, is evident from 
every narrative in which such things are mentioned or 
implied. But their power of visual and auricular per- 
ception is not restricted as in the human race. From 
the nature of the organism in which the spirit of man 
resides, his natural power in these relations is very 
limited. In the instance of vision, however, his natural 
power may, in conformity with the ordinary laws of 



IX MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 103 

vision, be, by the appliances of art, immeasurably in- 
creased. Telescopes and microscopes are but additions 
to the natural organ. In angels that organ may natur- 
ally as far transcend the optical power of human skill 
and science, as the latter exceeds the unaided power of 
vision in man. Moreover, to spirits inhabiting angelic 
organisms, things which circumscribe human vision 
probably constitute no obstructions. Material bodies 
which to the human eye are opaque, may to them be as 
transparent as crystal or the atmosphere to man. The 
degree of light necessary to their vision of objects may 
be as nothing compared with that required by the 
human eye ; and distance, so wonderfully obviated by 
the effect of optical instruments, may be, and un- 
doubtedly is, proportionally, as nothing to them. 

Now, since those beings have a distinct, personal, 
visible form — visible to the unaided human eye on the 
occasion of their appearance in the earlier and at the 
opening of the present dispensation, as at the annuncia- 
tion and the resurrection — and since their visual per- 
ceptions correspond to our law of optics, it is to be in- 
ferred that they see each other and all external objects 
in the same way as they saw men ; and doubtless the 
like, both with respect to the mode and the degree or 
extent of perception, may be safely inferred in relation 
to their hearing and feeling. 

Whatever else may be true of the organisms in which 
they dwell, enough is revealed to justify the conclusion, 
that, being in their attributes as spirits like the spirits 
of men. vise their faculties through the instru- 

mentality of those orgs i the same way as men 

through theirs. Thus it is certain that by means of 
those visible forma they exercise physical power. The 
t ■■•■■ • • angels who came in the form of men to Lot in 



104 THE MESSIAH 

Sodom, "put forth their hands and pulled Lot into the 
house to them, and shut to the door. And the men said 
unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? . . . And while 
he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, . . . and 
they brought him forth and set him without the city." 
Gen. xix. 

The established form, then, in which, from the begin- 
ning, spiritual beings have visibly appeared, was con- 
formable to that assigned to the human race ; insomuch 
that such beings were never otherwise discernible to 
the human eye. That form was assumed, with man's 
nature, by the Messiah when he became incarnate ; and 
there is therefore nothing incongruous or inherently 
improbable in the supposition of his having appeared 
visibly in the likeness of that form at earlier periods, as 
the Scriptures clearly teach. It is not more unlikely 
that in those earlier appearances, on occasions when no 
Divine effulgence was exhibited, his visible appearance 
should be like that of angelic messengers, than that 
theirs should be like that of man, or that his should be 
so when literally incarnate. And if the Deity has ever 
appeared visibly to man, it was indubitably to the 
patriarchs and prophets as the Messiah, under the de- 
signations and on the occasions heretofore referred to, 
and publicly in Judea at the period of his liteial incar- 
nation. 

Consistently with these views, the Scriptures, in 
speaking of him in the various aspects and relations in 
which he appeared, employ terms which are appropriate 
to one with attributes and modes of visible action like 
those of man ; of his head, face, eyes, hands, feet ; of his 
sitting down, rising up, standing, walking, working, 
resting, hearing, speaking, and the like. As leader and 
defender of his people, "Jehovah is a man [is like a 



EST MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 105 

man] of war; Jehovah is his name.'' Exod. xv. 3. 
"And Jehovah went [walked] his way, as soon as he 
.had left communing with Abraham." Gen. xviii. 83. 
"Jehovah looked unto the host of the Egyptians through 
the pillar of fire and of the cloud." Exod. xiv. Moses 
and the elders ascended mount Sinai, " and they saw the 
Elohe of Israel ; and there was under his feet as it were 
a paved work of sapphire; . . . and upon the nobles 
(Moses and the elders) he laid not his hand: . . . they 
saw (he Elohim, and did eat and drink." Exod. xxiv. 
"And Jehovah descended in the cloud and stood with 
Moses, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. And 
Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, 
Ei, merciful and gracious. And Moses said, If now I 
have found grace in thy sight, Adonai, let Adonai, 
I pray thee, go amongst us, and pardon our iniquity and 
our sin." Exod. xx.xiv. " Melach Jehovah stood in the 
way for an adversary against Balaam. . . . Jehovah 
opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw Melach Jehovah 
standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand." 
Numb, xxiii. "And Joshua looked, and behold, there 

• man over against him with his sword drawn in his 
/>"//'/. . . . And he said, As captain of the host of Jeho- 
vah am I now come. . . . And the captain of the host 
of Jehovah said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off 
it, for the place whereon thou standest is holy." 
Josh. v. "Melach Jehovah came up from Gilgal [the 
place where the ark, the ark of the Adon of all the 
earth, then rested] to Bochirn, and said, /made you to 
go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the 
land which / gave unto your fathers, and I said, I will 
never break my covenant with you." Judges ii. "Thus 
Baith Jehovah, Elohe of Israel, I brought you up from 

t, and / mid unto you, I am Jehovah your Elohe." 
5* 



106 THE MESSIAH 

"And Melach Jehovah, came and sat under an oak, and 
said unto Gideon, Jehovah is with thee, And Melach 
the Elohim said unto him, Take the flesh and the un- 
leavened cakes and lay them upon this rock. And 
Melach Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was 
in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened 
cakes." Judges v. "The eye of Jehovah is upon them 
that fear him." Ps. xxxiii. 18. "The eyes of Jehovah 
thy Elohe are always upon it [the land]." Deut. xi. 
"The eyes of Jehovah are upon the righteous, and his 
ears are open unto their cry. The face of Jehovah is 
against them that do evil. Melach Jehovah encampeth 
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 
They cry, and Jehovah heareth them." Ps. xxxiv. " Me- 
lach Jehovah touched Elijah, and said, Arise and eat." 
1 Kings xix. 

The preceding observations concerning the faculties 
of angels suggest the relation to their acquisition of 
knowledge of the visible persons, objects and events 
within their view on earth, and the congruity of that 
relation with the visibility of the God-man, Messiah, 
Mediator,' Ruler, and Revealer. 

Suppose the celestial hosts, with the visual powers 
and the freedom from the conditions of distance above 
intimated, from the moment of their creation in the full 
maturity of their faculties and of their endowments, ex- 
cept in respect to the knowledge to be derived from the 
evolution and progress of events, to have seen each 
other, and the visible objects of their own and other 
spheres ; to have seen, among the earliest of events, the 
rebellion and dejection from their ranks of an arch- 
angel, with numerous adherents, followed by the apos- 
tasy and degradation of the progenitors of the human 
race ; and, in connection therewith, to have seen the 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 107 

Personal "Word talking in Eden, to have heard his voice, 
and thenceforth to have observed the acts and events 
connected with our race. It is plain that if they see and 
hear in conformity with the same laws as men, and ac- 
quire knowledge by so seeing and hearing, then it was 
necessary to them, as well as to man, that all the agents 
in the scene should be visible, and that their voices 
should be audible. 

The object, on the occasions referred to, was to in- 
struct and influence, by visible and tangible realities 
presented to the senses. To suppose some of the agents 
and acts to have been what they are declared to be, and 
others to have been illusions, unreal, imaginary, is to 
defeat the object of them, divest them of all certainty, 
and justify the same inference with respect to the human 
as to the celestial agents. In numerous instances it is 
evident that the power of vision in men was so enlarged, 
that they beheld objects not ordinarily visible to them. 
Had that augmented power continued, those objects 
would have continued to be visible, and so far from 
being less, would have been more free from illusion and 
uncertainty ; and it is absurd, and contrary to all ana- 
logy, to suppose that it did not render their vision as 
certain, and their inference from it as just, in respect to 
every person and object apprehended by it, as in respect 
to any one of them. And if, as in the case of the three 
who appeared to Abraham, and in other cases, they did 
not see the persons in the likeness of men whom they 
are declared to have seen, then we have no ground of 
certainty that they themselves were present, or acted 
tin 1 parte ascribed to them. 

It is observed above that in every instance of the per- 
sonal manifestation of the Messenger Jehovah under the 
ancient dispensations, he was distinctly recognized in 



108 THE MESSIAH 

the likeness of man. On many occasions he is expressly 
called a man ; and in various instances acts peculiar to 
a man are ascribed to him. Thus, at his appearance to 
Abraham in the plain of Mamre, to Jacob at Peni-El, to 
Joshua, to Manoah, to Ezekiel, to Daniel, to Amos, and 
to Zechariah, he is expressly called a man ; in Eden 
and in the plain of Mamre he walked and spoke as a 
man; to Moses he spake face to face, as a man speaketh 
with his friend, and of him it was said, " the similitude 
of Jehovah shall he behold ;" to Balaam, Joshua, and 
David, he appeared with a drawn sword in his hand ; 
when accepting the offering of Gideon, he put forth the 
staff that was in his hand, and touched the sacrifice; he 
" touched Elijah, and said, Arise and eat." Again, in 
the instances in which it is said that he appeared to 
Abraham and others, without specifying that his person 
was visible, and in those in which it is said that he 
came, or that the Word of the Lord came, to Abraham, 
Moses, Samuel, David, and the prophets, the things said 
and done are, as to matter and manner, in respect to 
the persons addressed or spoken of, reference to circum- 
stances of time and place, particularity of directions a id 
details, similar to those in which he visibly appeared as 
man. 

In the minds of the patriarchs and prophets, there- 
fore, the human likeness in which he visibly appeared 
was intimately and familiarly associated with his per- 
son. When they thought of him, they thought of him 
in that form ; and accordingly his visible appearance in 
that form occasioned little or no surprise. They knew, 
it may well be believed, from and after the first appear- 
ance or announcement of the Messiah in Eden, that 
human nature and the human form were appointed and 
essential conditions of his complex official person and 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 109 

his sacerdotal work. Every typical sacrifice, the piacu- 
lar shedding of blood, the altar typifying the cross, the 
burnt ottering, the paschal lamb, every act of worship 
founded on the revealed doctrine of mediation, implied 
this distinctive apprehension of his person as Mediator. 
To suppose that patriarchs and prophets to whom he- 
appeared in this manner, and whom he inspired to teach 
others, did not know and recognize him in his true 
character, is not less derogatory to him than to them; 
and to suppose that those who earliest offered typical 
sacrifices did not as truly and adequately understand 
what belonged to his personal and official character as 
those who succeeded, is to nullify their worship and 
their faith, and to treat the system as a device of sinful 
and ignorant men, rather than as divinely revealed and 
sanctioned. 

But the Divine Mediator being thus clearly and 
familiarly known from the first beginning of the race, 
as to the constitution of his complex official person, his 
delegated character, his sacerdotal and mediatory work ; 
this knowledge being common to all true worshippers, 
and being illustrated and confirmed to others by local 
visible appearances of the Personal Word, by oral in- 
structions from inspired men, and b} r the external in- 
stitutions, rites and forms of the true worship; it is 
obvious how, and with what facility, the adverse party, 
the worshippers of Baal after the deluge, obtained their 
mist counterfeit notions of the incarnation of their 
rival god, and afterwards of other spiritual beings and 
disembodied intelligences; of a shekina of visible glory 
as the residence or tabernacle of Baal; of mediation, 
oracular responses, altars, sacrifices, incense, &c. To 
•appose that anyone of these things was originally con- 
ceived and invented by the natural reason of man, is at 



110 THE MESSIAH 

once to yield the question between revealed religion 
and the competency of fallen man to devise one which 
should obtain the undivided suffrage of nine tenths of 
the human race from age to age. The utter absurdity 
of such a supposition is shown by the fact that all the 
different nations and tribes of idolaters have, from the 
earliest records and traditions of their history, held 
essentially the same ideas upon these and kindred sub- 
jects. In the history of some countries, indeed, as in 
that of India, Thibet and China, the notion of the in- 
carnation, and of repeated incarnations, of their false 
god is more conspicuous than in that of others. But 
the notion that the shedding of blood would procure 
the remission of sin, that the piacular sacrifices must be 
offered on an altar and burnt with fire, that the first- 
lings of the flock must be sacrificed, and that incense 
must be burned by consecrated priests, has prevailed 
among all pagan nations and tribes, with or without 
letters, in all climates, and in all ages; and if not de- 
rived from the descendants of Noah at the dispersion, 
Ave must, by ascribing the invention to each distinct 
community for itself, imagine a greater miracle than 
that of the inspiration of true prophets. 

The revolt of the arch-apostate, with his angels and 
the head of the human race, was an open renunciation 
of allegiance to Jehovah as Creator, Lawgiver and 
Ruler, from which a total and ceaseless alienation and 
opposition ensued, which, but for his redemptive work, 
would have subverted and defeated his design as Creator. 
To counteract and overcome that revolt required his 
humiliation unto death. Prior to that event, his op- 
posers denied his prerogatives and rights as Creator, 
Lawgiver and Ruler, and arrogated them for creatures. 
The antagonist system of rivalship and homage was ex- 



IX MIOSES AND THE PROPHETS. Ill 

hibited in the face of the universe in the forms of poli- 
tical tyranny and idolatry. To assert and exhibit to 
the whole universe his claims, after his humiliation, he 
rose from the grave, ascended on high, was invested 
with all power in heaven and earth, and in his glorified 
and visible person as God-man was recognized as sway- 
ing the sceptre of universal empire. 

His claims and prerogatives as Creator, Upholder and 
Ruler being thus manifested and established, and the 
efficacy of his vicarious death being at the same time 
demonstrated by the conversion and salvation of multi- 
tudes from age to age, he will at length return to the 
earth to consummate his victory over all adversaries, to 
remove the curse and restore the earth to its primeval 
state, assume his visible regal sway, and establish his 
everlasting kingdom. 

The union, as appointed and fixed in the order of 
events, of the Divine and human natures in the Person 
of the God-man, was a primary condition in the great 
scheme of Divine works and manifestations. That 
union is, accordingly, implied in all the designations, 
whether prophetic or otherwise, of the Anointed, or 
official Person; the Logos, who was in the beginning; 
the Christ, who was before all things. On the basis of 
this union of the second Person of the Godhead with 
human nature, rendering him capable of subordinate 
delations and agencies, the works of creation, provi- 
dence and grace were delegated to him by the Father. 

Such a provision in the constitution of his official 
person, in order to the subordinate relations, delegated 
agencies, and visible manifestations, involved in his 
iftdertaking, would. seem manifestly necessary. Aparl 
from that provision, he was in all respects equal with 
the Father; and in respect to his person, therefore, 



112 TITE MESSIAH 

some special ground of subordination, in order to the 
delegation to him of such works in such relations with 
man, and with material and visible tilings, would seem 
to be necessary. Again, the works delegated to him, 

and for which he was sent of the Father, all of them in 
some relations, and many of them absolutely, implied 
and required this union of the human nature with his 
person. Accordingly, in this delegated, subordinate 
official Person, he was foreordained before the founda- 
tion of the world, and had glory with the Father before 
the world was. 

By him and for him, in his official person and dele- 
gated character, are all things. By him and for his 
pleasure they were created. He upholds all things, and 
by him all things consist. 

His undertaking included the works of creation, pro- 
vidence and redemption : the physical and moral govern- 
ment of the world, and the manifestation of the Divine 
perfections to all intelligent creatures. 

In the execution of his undertaking, local and visible 
manifestations of his person and of his official preroga- 
tives and acts were indispensable, in the relations he 
was to sustain as Lawgiver and Ruler, Prophet and 
Priest. His undertaking comprised a succession of acts 
and dispensations, and of corresponding changes in the 
manner of his agency, the nature of his manifestations, 
and the immediate objects of his administration. In 
these respects the progress of his work is indicated in 
the revelation he has made in the Holy Scriptures, in 
which his person and his acts appear, from stage to 
stage, in different aspects. He speaks of himself, and 
is spoken of by the inspired writers, sometimes with 
reference only to his Divine, and at other times with 
reference only to his human nature. On some occasions 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 113 

acts are ascribed to him which are proper to him only 
as Divine; and on other occasions such as could be 
affirmed of him only as human ; as in one case, the act 
of creation, and in the other, the act -of walking. 

It is in this complex person that he is primarily the 
object of all our knowledge of the Deity as revealed in 
the Scriptures. He is the image, the visible manifesta- 
tion of the invisible God, whom no man hath seen or 
can see. He in this person hath declared, manifested 
the Father ; no less under the earliest, than under the 
present dispensation. 

Accordingh r , though distinguished by Moses in the 
beginning of his narrative by designations which spe- 
cially relate to the Divine nature in his person, acts are 
ascribed to him which denote his complex official per- 
son ; such as walking in the garden of Eden, and con- 
versing face to face with Adam. As his official work is 
in Scripture referred to as one comprehensive under- 
taking, though involving a long succession of acts and 
events, so his official person is ever referred to as the 
same, though in the succession many events preceded 
that of his taking man's nature into union with that 
person. By appointment and covenant, virtually and 
officially he was the same from the beginning; and on 
that ground, and because his expiatory death in man's 
nature was essential to his undertaking as a whole, and 
its effect as necessary to the earliest as to any succeed- 
ing portion "I' man's race, he is spoken of as "slain 
I *i ■ * »iii tin- foundation of the world." 

Had no aposta jy "I' man taken place, we arc warranted 

•'.in .' that he would have continued that local, 

.eel intercourse with Adam and his 

descendants which eharact srized the earliest period of 

their existence. For as Creator of all things he was the 



114 THE MESSIAH 

Heir and Lord of all, and would have been Lawgiver 
and King of the race, the medium of their relations to 
God and of their homage, as he is to be hereafter at the 
restitution of all things to their primeval condition, 
when all the evil consequences of the fall shall have 
superseded, death itself destroyed, and the earth 
delivered from the curse and restored to its original per- 
fection. 

But no such course of things could have been possible 
had the earth, at the epoch of man's creation, been in its 
present imperfect condition, the scene of disease and 
death. Nor can there, if it was at the outset so imper- 
fect and so fraught with physical evils, be a restoration 
of it hereafter to its pristine state. If it is to be reno- 
vated, remodelled, new-made, it is because it has been 
degraded from its primeval condition. If it is to be 
restored by the instrumental! ty of fire, that is to happen 
as the counterpart of its destruction by water. If its 
renovation is to be one of the consequences and con- 
comitants of his perfect triumph over the evils of the 
apostasy, its subjection to its present state is no less cer- 
tainly a consequence of the apostasy. 

In view of this scheme and course of administration, 
we may perhaps discern some of the reasons why this 
earth and the human race were selected. 

We may suppose that of all the orders of intelligent 
creatures, man, with his material body, is the least ex- 
alted, and for that reason, in such a course of manifesta- 
tion to all orders, alliance with his nature would be 
selected. 

The visibility required in such a scheme would require 
union with a visible body. 

So far as we have reason to conclude, no other race 
of intelligent creatures is multiplied by succession. That 



IX MOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 115 

peculiarity of the human race rendered it practicable for 
the Creator to take the human nature into union with 
his person ; and it likewise allows of a perpetual increase 
of the subjects of his grace and of his kingdom, after 
the ruins of the fall shall have been overcome, and the 
sovereignty of the rest of the universe, preserved and 
confirmed in holiness, shall have been surrendered to 
the Father. 

Probably the preservation of the rest of the universe 
from defection is among the results of his expiation of 
sin, his ascension incarnate to heaven, his reign there 
till his second advent, and his victory over Satan and 
all opposition. That being accomplished, he resumes 
and prosecutes his original purpose as visible Head and 
King of the human race. 



CHAPTER XL 

Of the official Person and Relations of the Messiah. 

The term Jehovah, though employed interchangeably 
with the other Divine designations, is in one respect 
peculiar. It is never used with reference to any other 
than the Divine Being. Hence it is by many regarded 
as a proper name. It is however replaced in the New 
Testament by an appellative. 

Gesenius, who regards this as a proper name, and the 
word Elohim as an appellative, refers to the "Seventy" 
as uniformly prefixing the definite article to the word 
which they substitute for Jehovah ; making the version. 



116 THE MESSIAH 

as ia the English, The Lord. lie considers the formulas, 
"I shall be what I am," and "which is, and which was, 
and which is to come," as expressing the meani 
this name, by which the being designated was to be 
distinctively recognized, remembered, and acknowledged 
for ever, according to the declarations: "This is my 
name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all gene- 
rations ;' ; and "this is my name for ever: so shall ye 
name me throughout all generations." 

But, as has been shown, this name is employed both 
separately and conjointly, with strictly official designa- 
tions, to identify the second Person of the Trinity in 
his delegated character and work ; who in the New 
Testament is announced as Jehovah, Immanu-El, Jesus, 
the Christ. 

The subsistence of three distinct coequal Persons in 
the Godhead is eternal. The Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Spirit are, as persons, coeternal, coequal, and 
alike infinitely removed from all possibility of change. 
Whatever change has taken place with respect to them 
must therefore be merely relative, and have reference to 
their respective agencies, and to the works of creation, 
providence, and grace. They are accordingly revealed 
to us in connection with those works, and in the relations 
which they sustain to them, and to each other in con- 
nection with them; and pursuant to the economy or 
covenant in which those relations and works are founded, 
the designations by which they are respectively made 
known are official designations, or employed with a 
personal and official reference. The Father is first, the 
fountain of authority, and delegates the Son. The Son 
is second, and is subordinate to the Father. The Holy 
Spirit is third, and is subordinate to the Father and the 
Son. The Father sends the Son to accomplish the works 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 117 

assigned to him. The Son reveals the Father, and ex- 
ecutes his will. The Holy Spirit does the will of the 
Father and the Son. It is in these relations that the 
respective Persons are worshipped, and not jointly or 
in unity. The Father is worshipped through the Son 
as the medium of access and homage. The Father and 
Son respectively are worshipped through the gracious 
indwelling influence of the Holy Spirit, 

These relations of the respective Persons are therefore 
official, and must be referred to as originating in the 
covenant, in which the whole scheme of agency and 
manifestation in the works of creation, providence, and 
redemption, was founded. ISTo such relations are to be 
ved of as existing eternally; for in their nature 
-pective Persons are coequal. Subordination must 
have been voluntarily assumed for special purposes and 
tea which required it. When creatures were to 
be brought into existence, relations not previously ex- 
isting were requisite ; and as those relations to creatures 
required various agencies of the respective Persons, new 
relations between them were requisite ; and these, being- 
founded in compact, are properly termed official. Ac- 
cordingly, all Divine acts towards creatures are personal 
acts of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. They 
ot as a unity in respect to creatures. 

Bence all the acts of the Son in the works of creation, 
providence, and redemption, are ascribed to him in one 
and tin- saim- official Person and delegated character, 
by whatever designations lie may, in relation to those 
, be referred to; and it was accordingly in that 
character thai he appeared personally and visibly in the 
>ns; assumed the human form, walked, 
conversed, and performed various actions proper only 
to one in that form. The nature of his delegated under- 



118 THE MESSIAH 

taking, and the objects of those dispensations, required 
such local manifestations of his person and visible 
agency, and also that he should speak to and of himself 
in the different aspects in which he then appeared, and 
in which he exercised his prophetic office, in relation to 
his future coming and his sacerdotal work. Thus he 
speaks of himself as the Seed of the Woman, the Son of 
David, the King, the Saviour, the Anointed, the Mes- 
senger, the Eedeemer, the Holy One, the Branch, the 
Shepherd, Immanuel. 

This may be illustrated by referring to the New 
Testament, and considering that the Divine and human 
natures being united in the Person of the incarnate 
Word, whatever is true of either of those natures in 
that union, is affirmed of him as a Person ; and for 
aught that appears, whatever is affirmed of his Divine 
nature in that Person is affirmed of him in his official 
character, whether with reference to his preexistent 
or to his incarnate state. Many things are said of him 
which are predicable of his human nature only, but 
which nevertheless could not be said if he was not both 
God and man in one Person. Thus it is said, that he 
died for our sins — and that he rose for our justification. 
Other things are said of the same Person, which arc 
predicable only of his Divine Nature ; as that he came 
down from heaven, that he came forth from God, and 
that he was in the beginning. Hence the propriety Avith 
which in both the Old and New Testaments the various 
Divine names and titles are applied to him, to designate 
the One Anointed, delegated — Person. 

Since writing this work, the author has read the 
treatise of Dr. Isaac Watts, entitled, "The Glory of 
Christ as God-Man," in which he describes the visible 
appearances of Christ before his incarnation, inquires 



IX .AJOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 119 

into the extensive powers of his human nature in its 
present glorified state, and endeavors to explain and 
illustrate the Scriptures which relate to those appear- 
ances, and to the Person who under various divine 
names and official designations visibly appeared, by 
supposing that the human soul of Christ was created 
prior to the creation of the world, and thenceforth, being- 
united to the Second Person of the Godhead, appeared 
and acted, visibly and otherwise, in all that related to 
this world. There being no question but that the me- 
ditorial Person created the world, appeared visibly, and 
conducted the administration of the Old Testament dis- 
pensations, there is, as might be anticipated, a degree 
of plausibility in the reasonings and illustrations of this 
venerated author. But many grave and unanswerable 
objections to his peculiar views present themselves. It 
is not perceived that the supposition of the pree'xistence 
of the human soul of Christ is either sustained by the 
Scriptures, or has in any respect, as a means of explana- 
tion, any advantage as compared with the view taken 
in this work, viz : that, pursuant to a covenant between 
th" I 'ersons of the Godhead, the Second Person assumed 
the official character and relations which are peculiar to 
him as Mediator; those, viz: in which he executed the 
of creation and providence, and manifested him- 
self under various Divine names and official designations, 
as Jehovah, Elohim, the Messenger, the Messiah; the 
official persona] actor and revcaler. To his Person in 
this official character and agency the human nature was 
in due time united, so as to include two natures in his 
oip- Person. Bu1 since tin' delegated official Person, 
ini'i union with which tin' human nature was taken, 
rid a- a Person was the same before as after 
the incarnation, the acts of that Person in the delegated 



120 THE MESSIAH 

official character and relations above referred to, were 
to the same effect, and involved essentially the same 
conditions before as after the advent. Since be un- 
doubtedly acted as Mediator in tbe ancient dispensations, 
we must, in reference to his agency then, ascribe to him 
what peculiarly constituted and ever preeminently dis- 
tinguishes that character, viz : its being the delegated 
official character of a Divine Person. Regarded in that 
light, there seems no more difficulty in ascribing visible 
appearances and other acts suitable to his office in his 
relations to men, prior to the assumption of human 
nature into union with his Person, than after that union. 
The relations of his Person, in his delegated official 
character, to creatures and material things, were the 
result, not of the incarnation, nor of any occurrence after 
the commencement of his delegated, subordinate, medi- 
atorial work, but of his appointment to that work, and 
must be regarded as coeval with that appointment. 
They were the relations of the official, mediatorial 
Person ; and for aught that appears or is conceivable, 
rendered visible personal appearances in the likeness of 
man, and the performance of acts, utterance of words, 
&c, like those of man, as practicable before as after the 
addition of human nature to that Person. 

The views advanced by Dr. Watts proceed upon the 
assumption that two distinct persons were united ; 
whereas it was two distinct natures that were united in 
one Person. That Person existed before the human 
nature was added to it. The nature added had no 
separate or distinct personality. It became part of the 
preexisting Person. "He took it to be his own nature, . . . 
causing it to subsist in his own Person," says Owen. 
The Logos, the personal Word or Reveal er, the delegated 
Official Person or Mediator, who " was in the beginning 



IN MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. 121 

and was God, was made flesh and dwelt among us." 
John i. " He took not on him the nature of angels, 
but he took on him the seed of Abraham." Heb. ii. 
16. (i He did not assume a nature from angels, but he 
assumed a nature from the seed of Abraham." Syriac 
Text. " The Lord Jesus Christ is God and man in one 
person. For there is supposed in these words (Heb. i. 
16) his preexistence in another nature than that which 
he is said here to assume. He subsisted before, else he 
could not have taken on him what he had not before. 
Gal. iv. 4 ; John i. U ; Tim. iii. 16 ; Phil. ii. 6, 7. That 
is, . . . the Word of God . . . became incarnate. He 
took to himself another nature, of the seed of Abraham 
according to the promise ; so, continuing what he was, 
he became what he was not ; for he took this to be his 
own nature ... by taking that nature into personal 
subsistence with himself, in the hypostasis [substance 
or subsistence] of the Son of God ; seeing the nature he 
assumed could no otherwise become his. For if he had 
by any ways or means taken the person of a man in the 
ist union that two persons are capable of, in that 
case the nature had still been the nature of that other 
person, and not his own. But he took it to be his own 
nature, which, therefore, must be by a personal union, 
erasing it to subsist in his own person. . . . This is 
done without a multiplication of persons in him; for 
the human nature can have no personality of its own, 
because it was taken to be the nature of another person 
who was preexistent to it, and by assuming it, prevented 
it- proper personality." (Owen on the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, chap. ii. 16.) 

"Christ is the Jehovah whose dominion is proclaimed, 
[ Psalm xcvii.,] who is declared to be the God whom men 
and angels are bound to serve and worship. Such is 
6 



122 THE MESSIAH 

He who for our deliverance condescended to assume our 
nature. . . . For thus it seems the matter stood in the 
counsels of Eternal Wisdom : It behooved Him to be 
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful 
and faithful High Priest in things pertaining unto God, 
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." (Hors- 
ley's Sermon on the 97th Psalm.) That is : It behooved 
Him, the Christ, Jehovah in the preexisting official 
Person, to assume our nature. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Local and visible Manifestations, Intercourse and Instructions, as char- 
acterizing the primeval and Mosaic Dispensations — Local Presence of 
the Messenger Jehovah in the Tabernacle. 

It being evident that the Messiah appeared to the 
patriarchs in a visible form, that they recognized him 
under various designations, saw him face to face, con- 
versed with him, offered to him burnt offerings and 
prayers, believed in him with that faith which is unto 
righteousness, received from him revelations, promises, 
and covenants, and in all the aspects and relations in 
which he appeared, regarded him as their God and the 
God of providence and grace, their Creator, Preserver, 
Lawgiver, and Euler, it is safe to conclude that this 
method of personal and visible manifestation and inter- 
course was a primary and essential characteristic of 
that dispensation. If the instances of such personal 
appearance and intercourse in which minute details are 
recorded, as in that to Abraham in the plain of Mamie, 



IX MOSES ASD THE PROPHETS. 123 

and that to Jacob at Peni-El, are not greatly multiplied, 
they are yet sufficiently numerous, considered in con- 
nection with the occasions, circumstances and expres- 
sions by which other instances are distinguished, to 
warrant us in supposing the frequent occurrence of like 
manifestations to the same individuals, and to many 
others of whose personal history no extended details are 
recorded, and many others of whom nothing, or nothing 
except their names, is mentioned. Moreover, when 
Moses wrote, such visible manifestations were familiar 
to the Israelites, and in his retrospective history no 
more required to be specially mentioned, except as in- 
cidents interwoven with, and inseparable from, the per- 
sonal narratives of the past, than fall details respecting 
sacrificial offerings, their typical references, the law of 
the Sabbath, and other matters, which were in like man- 
ner familiar, and constituted the essential elements of 
their religious system. 

There is ground to conclude that this mode of mani- 
festation was coeval with the creation ; and that, if there 
had been no apostasy of man, He "for whom are all 
things, and by whom are all things," would have con- 
tinued visibly and constantly present with the race on 
earth, as he will be after he shall have destroyed the 
last enemy, and obviated the consequences of the fall. 
At that predicted restitution, a condition of things like 
that which preceded the defection is to be realized; 
when he is to dwell with men — their God. 

The New Testament clearly ascertains to us that he 
was personally the Creator. The style and manner in 
which he spoke and acted, as recorded by Moses in his 
account of the creation, and in his primeval intercourse 
with Adam, coincides in familiarity, and may be de- 
scribed as homogeneous, with that employed on occasions 



124 THE MESSIAH 

of his visible manifestations to Abraham. Jacob, and 
others. When he said, " Let us make man in our image, 
after our likeness," it may well be presumed that, among 
other things, he had reference to that visible form in 
which he was thenceforth frequently recognized, and 
in which he at length became incarnate, and will here- 
after be seen by every eye. 

As instances of the appropriateness of what he said 
to a person locally present, and speaking and acting m 
a man would naturally do, the following are referred to: 
"He saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it 
was very good. And the evening and the morning were 
the sixth day. And on the seventh day, having ended 
his work, he rested, and blessed the seventh day, and 
sanctified it ; because that in it he had rested from all his 
work which Elohim created and made." Such refer- 
ences to time and place imply an actor having coin- 
cident relations. Again, "He planted a garden eastward 
in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed, 
and commanded him, saying, Of every tree of the 
garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil." After the transgression, 
tlfe same local references, and the like familiarity, and 
implication of his personal presence, are continued: 
"And they heard the voice" — according to Owen and 
others, the Word — '"of Jehovah Elohim, walking in the 
garden ; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from 
the presence" — literally, the face — " of Jehovah Elohim, 
amongst the trees of the garden. And Jehovah Elohim 
called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou ? 
And he said, I heard thy voice, and I was afraid, and 
I hid myself." These passages seem to be demonstrative 
of the local personal presence of the Divine speaker, as 
clearly as of that of the guilty couple. They heard him 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 125 

in the garden, and to avoid meeting or being met by 
him, they hid themselves among the trees. This would 
have been to no purpose, had he not been locally, but 
only spiritually present. They heard him walking, and 
having retreated to a covert for concealment, he called 
to Adam ; acts which, in a plain, literal narrative, imply 
a local personal presence. 

If on this occasion, when the delinquent parties were 
successively arraigned and questioned, and the sentence 
of condemnation was pronounced in words addressed 
personally to each, he was locally present, the otherwise 
seeming paradox, that the same style and manner of 
address to the subtle adversary should be employed as 
to Adam, disappears. So the words addressed to Cain 
can hardly be thought to have been literally spoken, 
but upon the supposition that the Divine speaker was 
locally present, and that his presence was matter of pre- 
\i< ins and familiar recognition to Cain. Alike inference 
limy be made from the statement that Elohim came to 
Abiniclech, and spake to him in a dream, and from his 
address to Jehovah, (Jen. xx. ; and also from the state- 
ment that Elohim came to Laban in a dream, and his 
mention of the fact, and of the caution he renewed to 
Jacob, Gen. xxxi. 

Nor is there in any respect any thing improbable in 
the supposition that he Avas locally and visibly present 
in the likeness of man at that period, any more than at 
subsequent periods. On the contrary, tin' statement 
(John i. h thai the WORD — the delegated Person who 
in due time assumed our nature and was visibly on 
earth — was in the beginning, and created all things, im- 
plies thai he was then recognized in his official character, 
which implies relations and acts of which place and 
visibility were indispensable conditions. Such must 



126 THE MESSIAH 

undoubtedly have been the case -when he was seen, if 
not uniformly when his yoice was heard. He may have 
been often locally present when, though heard, he was 
not seen. Such, with respect to Daniel's companions, 
was the case in his vision, chap. x. He saw one in the 
form of man, whose face was as the appearance of light- 
ning-, and heard his words; but the men that were with 
him saw not the vision. And when Paul saw his per- 
son so unequivocally as to constitute him a witness of 
his resurrection, the men accompanying him heard his 
voice, but saw him not. When it is simply said that 
he appeared to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or others, and 
the narrative proceeds to relate what he said, and what 
answers were made, the language plainly implies his 
local personal presence, though no mention is made of 
his being seen. The occasions and objects of his appear- 
ance in such instances were, so far as we can judge, as 
important and as appropriate to such local and visible 
manifestations, as those in relation to which it is 
expressly recorded that he was seen in the likeness of 
man. 

The primeval and Levitical dispensations were spe- 
cially characterized by visible manifestations, acts, rites 
and events, embodying, enforcing, and illustrating the 
great truths which were revealed. Thus, on the part of 
man, the first prohibition enjoined upon Adam, besides 
its reference to his will, had relation to an external and 
visible act, and an external and visible object, the fruit 
of a particular tree. The ritual of worship prescribing, 
among other offerings, that of slaughtered animals on 
an altar, the observance of the Sabbath, the long list of 
fasts, feasts, convocations, ordinances, rites and cere- 
monies, and most of the injunctions and prohibitions of 
the moral law, had respect to outward and visible acts. 



IX MOSES ASTD THE PROPHETS. 127 

And on the other hand, the Divine Lawgiver and Ruler 
manifested himself visibly, announced his revelations 
and commands in audible words, distinguished the right- 
eous generally by outward prosperity, long life, and 
numerous descendants, and the wicked by opposite 
evils, or by special calamities and judgments manifest to 
public observation. By this method, the personality, 
the attributes and perfections, the prerogatives and 
rights, the holiness, faithfulness, mercy and truth of 
Jehovah, were not only exhibited to the view of all in- 
telligent creatures, fallen and unfallen, but were exhib- 
ited in such relations to accountable creatures, in their 
various circumstances, and in their connections with 
laws, covenants, promises, and predictions, as to lead 
unmistakably to a right apprehension of them, and a 
right apprehension of the conduct of men in view of 
them: results which, so far as we can judge, could have 
been produced in no other way, unless by endowing 
creatures with omniscience, or with plenary inspiration. 
For, from their nature as created, finite and dependent 
agents, tht:ir thoughts, apprehensions and inferences are 
successive, and all the knowledge of external things 
which they acquire otherwise than by inspiration, they 
acquire by means of their external senses; seeing visible 

-. hearing audible sounds, &c. Those to whom 
these di vim' manifestations, personal, visible, and audible, 
Hrere firsl made, had uo prototypes, precedents or anal- 

to assisl them in gaining right apprehensions, and 
deducing jus! conclusions, bad the method of instruction 
been that merely of announcements, from an invisible 
source, of abstract propositions. But by the method 
actually adopted, prototypes, precedents and analogies 
were furnished, which, being recorded in the relations 
and historical connections in which they occurred and 



128 THE MESSIAH 

were observed, serve effectually for the instruction of 
those to whom similar outward and visible manifestations 
are not vouchsafed. 

On the other hand, by the method taken, the nature, 
deserts, and consequences of sin were unmistakably 
shown, by its being embodied and publicly exhibited 
in visible acts and their consequences. Thus the trans- 
gression of Adam, regarded in its connection with the 
prohibition which had been emphatically enjoined, witli 
his arraignment, and the sentence pronounced upon him, 
and with his expulsion from Eden, and the curse and 
blight visibly produced upon the earth on which he 
was doomed to toil for a subsistence, and at length to 
decline and die, furnished illustrations of the inde- 
scribable turpitude of his apostasy, and of the moral and 
physical evils that were among its j ust and legitimate 
consequences, which neither then nor now could be 
conveyed in an abstract statement. So the hypocrisy, 
envy, infidelity, and malignity of Cain, regarded in con- 
nection with the knowledge he had of the consequences 
of Adam's transgression, and of the laws, obligations, 
and duties which were binding upon him ; and in con- 
nection with the remorse visibly depicted on his coun- 
tenance, his expulsion from the accustomed place of 
worship and of intercourse with Jehovah, and the spec- 
tacle he was to exhibit as a fugitive and a vagabond, 
despised and shunned as an outcast, for whom the earth, 
in respect to his tillage of it, was specially cursed and 
blighted; furnished, to the view of all intelligent ob- 
servers, lessons and illustrations which could in no 
other conceivable way have been exhibited. 

The like may be observed concerning the spectacle of 
violence and corruption which all but universally pre- 
vailed before the deluge, and on account of which that 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 129 

exterminating judgment upon the race, with its visible 
accompaniments and its physical effects upon the earth 
itself and its irrational inhabitants, was, in the view of 
the whole universe of accountable creatures, specially 
and judicially inflicted. Also, concerning the notorious 
and awful Avickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, and 
the exterminating retribution visited upon them, making 
them a public and perpetual example. And, omitting 
to specify less conspicuous and individual instances to 
the like effect in the history of the patriarchs, or that of 
the treatment of the Israelites in Egypt, and its coun- 
terpart in the plagues which ensued, or any of later date, 
it is manifest that this method of manifestation, instruc- 
tion, warning, and reproof, was characteristic of those 
early times. 

If now, in conformity with "the unanimous opinion 
of the ancient Church," we consider that He who in his 
delegated character is, in Moses and the prophets, desig- 
nated by all the Divine names and titles, and specially, 
among his peculiar official titles, by that of the Messen- 
ger Jehovah, " was the mediator in all the relations of 
God to the people," and, as expressed by Hengstenberg, 
from the beginning constantly filled up the infinite dis- 
tance between the Creator and the creation, and was in 
all ages the Light of the world, and Mediator in all the 
Delations of God to the human race, then his early 
method of local, personal, and visible manifestations, 
interpositions, and instructions, is obviously in keeping 
with that exhibited during his subsequent sojourn on 
earth, and so accordant with the nature ami ends of his 
official character and its relations and objects, as to imply 
that the present dispensation is an exception, to be suc- 
ceed, d by one of renewed and more glorious, impressive, 
and instructive visibility than that of Paradise, when 



130 THE MESSIAH 

all his prior administrations and agencies will be com- 
pletely vindicated, every eye will see him, and every 
tongue confess that he is Jehovah, to the glory of God 
. the Father. 

The foregoing observations may be further illustrated 
by reference to the tabernacle as the local residence of 
the Messenger Jehovah, and as in some respects tvpical. 

The pattern of the tabernacle which was shown to 
Moses in the mount, was a representation to him of the 
person and work of the Mediator as Priest and King in 
human nature, which he was required to represent to 
the children of Israel by the visible structure which he 
was to erect. The true tabernacle, of which this was the 
figure, was his human nature, in which his sacrifice, in- 
tercession, and regal glory were to be realized. 

The tabernacle, with its furniture and services, signi- 
fied to the worshippers the leading truths concerning 
the person, offices, mediation, incarnation, sacrifice, in- 
tercession, and final glory and reign of Christ. It taught 
these truths by means of visible signs — figures intended 
to serve that purpose till Christ should come, and in 
human nature, the true tabernacle, make atonement by 
shedding his own blood, and openly manifesting the way 
of reconciliation and access to God through him. 

This way into "the holiest of all," i. e., heaven itself, 
was not to be openly and completely manifested, but 
only as was practicable through these visible signs and 
teachings, during the continuance of the tabernacle 
erected by Moses, and afterwards placed in the first 
temple, as a figure of the true ; but the coming of 
Christ in the true tabernacle, his human nature, to offer 
himself a sacrifice, would fulfil and make manifest the 
things signified in the figure. The tabernacle signified 
that he would become literally incarnate ; but by the 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 131 

actual exhibition of his person in human nature, all ob- 
scurity and doubt would be removed. 

The tabernacle, as a figure of his incarnate person, in- 
cluded, in the sanctuary within the veil, the golden altar 
of incense, the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat, 
which was the throne; and in the other apartment, 
the altar of burnt offering, the show-bread, the candle- 
stick, &c, answering to the offices and benefits of Him 
who was both priest and sacrifice, altar and mercy-seat. 

That they had an ark and tent answerable essentially 
to the tabernacle anterior to that erected in the wil- 
derness, is implied in several passages. TJius, Exod. 
xxxiii., before the gifts had been received for the new 
structure, "Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it with- 
out the camp, afar off from the camp ; . . . and as Moses 
entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and 
stood at the door of the tabernacle, and talked [see Heb.] 
with Moses." Again, Exod. xvi., on the first dispensa- 
tion of manna, Aaron is directed to "Take a pot and put 
an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before Jeho- 
vah, to be kept for your generations. So Aaron laid it 
up before the testimony, to be kept :" that is, probably, 
in the tent or place where the Shekina dwelt, as after- 
wards in the tabernacle at Shiloh and Mizpeh, prior to 
the erection of the temple. The same thing may be 
implied in the words of the Philistines when the Israel- 
ites brought the ark of the covenant into their camp : 
"The Philistines were afraid, for they said, Elohim is 
come into the camp. Woe unto us! . . . this is the Elo- 
him that smote the Egyptians." 1 Sam.iv. As if, in the 
information they had received concerning the plagues 
of Egypt, the presence of the Elohim was associated 
with a tent or tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant. 
That there was such a place of Divine manifestation 



132 THE MESSIAH 

among the Israelites during their sojourn in Egypt and 
at the legation of Moses, is in the highest degree prob- 
able, since the true faith aud worship were preserved ; 
and probably it was to that place that Moses, in the 
progress of his controversy with Pharaoh, often repaired 
for direction and authority. And Moses returne d unto 
Jehovah, and said, Adonai, wherefore," &c. Exod. v. 
"And Moses spake before Jehovah. . . . 'And Moses 
said before Jehovah." vi. 'And Moses went out from Pha- 
raoh, and entreated Jehovah." viii. "And Moses went 
out of the city from Pharaoh, [perhaps from the district 
of the Egyptians to that of the Israelites,] and spread 
abroad his hands unto Jehovah." ix. The same word 
(Sheken or Shekina) which is employed to signify that 
Jehovah dwelt in the pillar of cloud and of fire, and in 
the tabernacle between the cherubim, is employed also 
Gen. iii. 24, which may read, " He caused the cherubim 
to chcell at the east of the garden of Eden," i. e., as in a 
tent or covering, a tabernacle, or column of cloud or fire. 
Doubtless Moses previously understood the true doc- 
trine concerning the person, mediation, and sacrifice of 
the Divine Mediator; but to qualify him to teach this 
doctrine and to enforce the duties connected with it, an 
exhibition was made to him of that Person in the form 
in which he was to make atonement by the sacrifice of 
himself. On the occasion of receiving instruction con- 
cerning the tabernacle, being called up into the mount, 
he, with Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders, saw 
the Elohe of Israel, in the likeness of the God-man, as 
appears from the allusion to his person, and what took 
place. "There was under his feet as it were a paved 
work of a sapphire stone. . . . Upon the nobles he laid 
not his hand. . . . They saw (the) Elohim, and did eat 
and drink." They evidently saw his person in the 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 133 

form in which he was to execute the priestly office, and 
•which was to be foreshown by the tabernacle. No man 
hath seen the Father. But Moses saw [Ike) Elohim, the 
Elohe of Israel, Jehovah, the Messenger, the God-man. 
On another occasion Jehovah came down and stood in 
the door of the tabernacle, and said, " With Moses will 
I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in 
dark speeches, and the similitude of Jehovah shall he 
behold." Numb. i. He appeared in the form of man 
to Abraham, Jacob, and others, with no accompaniment 
of visible glory. Isaiah saw him, the King, Jehovah 
Zebaoth, seated on a throne ; Ezekiel, in the likeness of 
a man on a throne; John, as the Son of man, clothed 
with a garment down to his feet. 

After this manifestation to the leaders and elders of 
Israel, Moses went alone into the midst of the cloud on 
the mount, and remained there forty days, receiving 
instructions for himself and the people concerning the 
tabernacle. "And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an 
offering, &c. ; . . . and let them make me a sanctuary, 
that / may dwell among them. According to all that I 
show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the 
pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye 
make it." This perfect model, by an imitation of which 
he was to represent the incarnate person and sacerdotal 
work of Christ, was shown to him in the mount. No 
doubl a visible pattern of the tabernacle and its instru- 
ments was shown to him. That it was not a mental 
vision, or a verbal description merely, by which he was 
instructed, is clearly indicated by the phraseology above 
quoted from Exod. xxv. 9: "According to all that I 
show thee;" more strictly, "According to all that I 
make thee to see." 



134 THE MESSIAH 

Again, after a variety of directions concerning the 
table for the show-bread, the candlestick, and other arti- 
cles of furniture, Jehovah said to Moses, "Look that 
thou make them after their pattern which was showed 
thee in the mount." Exod. xxv. 40, and xxvi. 30. 
"Thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the. 
fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount." 
And relating to the altar of burnt offerings: "Hollow 
with boards shalt thou make it : as it was showed thee 
in the mount, so shalt thou make it." xxvii. 8. Again, 
at the dedication of the tabernacle it is said, "Accord- 
ing unto the pattern which Jehovah had showed Moses, 
so he made the candlestick." Numb. viii. 4. 

This phraseology, accompanied as it is by minute 
verbal descriptions of the several objects, still refers to 
something more definite ; a form, model, pattern, which 
he was strictly to imitate. The purposes to be answered 
required perfect accuracy in the copy. And hence the 
apostle, Heb. viii. 5, alluding to this scene, says : " Moses 
was admonished of God, when he was about to make 
the tabernacle : for, See, saith he, that thou make all 
things according to the pattern showed to thee in the 
mount." 

This construction is confirmed by a portion of subse- 
quent history. When Solomon was about "to build an 
house for the sanctuary," David, instructed by Divine 
inspiration in respect to the forms of different parts of the 
edifice,caused patterns or models thereof to be constructed 
for the guidance of his son. " Then David gave to Sol- 
omon the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, 
and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper cham- 
bers thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat; and 
the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts 
of the house of Jehovah, and of all the chambers round 



JS MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 135 

about, of the treasuries of the house of Elohim, and of 
the treasuries of the dedicated things." 1 Chron. xxviii. 
In these services no discretion was left either to Moses 
or to Solomon. The things to be made were to be made 
in exact imitation of the patterns furnished. 

If we suppose that Moses beheld the person of the 
Mediator in the likeness of man, and at the same time 
beheld the model of the tabernacle and its furniture, by 
a copy of which he was visibly to prefigure and repre- 
sent the human nature and the official works of Christ, 
then the structure erected by him, with the throne, the 
altar, and all the instruments and rites of the Levitical 
service, will appear in the highest degree fitted to instruct 
the people in the great truths concerning his kingly and 
priestly offices. His consecration of the most holy apart- 
ment as his dwelling-place, answerable, as the place of 
his intercession and of his mediatorial throne, to that in 
which he was to appear after his incarnation and ascen- 
sion, will be intelligible ; and the fact that there he reigned 
as King, dictated laws, and administered the Theocracy, 
and that he was on subsequent occasions seen in con- 
nection with the visible form and accompaniments of the 
tabernacle, by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others, and lastly by 
John after his ascension, will appear consistent with all 
tli.it is made known to us of his mediatorial agency and 
risible manifestations under the primeval, patriarchal, 
and Mosaic dispensations. During those dispensations 
he as truly officiated as Mediator as after the full reali- 
zation of what the tabernacle prefigured; exercised the 
offices of Prophet, Priest, and King; and dwelt person- 
ally in the holy place of the tabernacle after that was 
prepared, till he formally forsook and withdrew from it, 
prior to the destruction of the first temple. His office 



136 THE MESSIAH 

and relations, as civil head and ruler of the nation, im- 
plied his personal presence. That, as their civil ruler, 
hfi was King in the same sense as other kingly rulers, 
appears from what is said when, through unbelief and 
desire of a leader and judge who should be always 
visible, they sinfully demanded a king from among 
themselves, like the kings of other nations: " Ye said. 
A king shall reign over us. when Jehovah your Elohe 
was your king." 1 Sam. xii. 13. 

From the oracle, the cover of the mercy-seat in the holy 
place within the veil, as one ever present, he spoke to 
Moses, dictated the laws which are recorded after the 
erection of the tabernacle, and gave responses to the 
high juriest on special occasions, whenever appealed to, 
not only during the ministry of Moses, but afterwards. 
And it is to be noticed that, as there were during the ear- 
lier dispensations certain localities appropriated to Di- 
vine worship, where altars were erected to Jehovah and 
typical sacrifices offered, and Divine manifestations and 
revelations were vouchsafed ; so, after the tabernacle was 
set up, and also after it was transferred to the temple, it 
was the place resorted to for oracular responses as well 
as for sacrifices of burnt offering. On the occasion of 
the war with Benjamin, "the children of Israel, and all 
the people, went up and came unto the house of Elohim, 
and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that 
day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace 
offerings before Jehovah. And the children of Israel in- 
quired of Jehovah, (for the ark of the covenant of \tlie] 
Elohim was there in those days, and Phinehas the son of 
Aaron stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet 
again go out to battle? &c. . . . And Jehovah said, Go 
up," &c. Judges xx. Thenee, in the days of Eli, Jeho- 



IN MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 137 

vah spoke to Samuel. 1 Sam. iii. See also Joshua vii. 
G ; 1 Chron. xxi. 30 ; 2 Sam. xxii. 7 ; Psalm xviii. 6 ; 
xxvii. 4; Isaiah Ixvi. 6. 

Now, the tabernacle was erected expressly to be the 
dwelling-place of Jehovah as Mediator. "Let them 
make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." 
Exod. xxv. 28. " Thou shalt put the mercy-seat above 
upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shall put the tes- 
timony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet 
with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the 
mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are 
upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will 
give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." 
xxv. 21, 22. " There I will meet with the children of 
Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. 
. . . And I will dwell among the children of Israel, 
and will be their God, and they shall know that I am 
Jehovah their Elohe, that brought them forth out of the 
land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them." xxix. 
43, 45, 46. The tabernacle in the wilderness had its 
station in the midst of the camps ; from the precincts of 
which all lepers were to be excluded, " that they defile 
not their camps in the midst whereof I dwell." Numb. 
v. 3. So no satisfaction might be taken for the life of a 
murderer in the land of Canaan; for blood defiled the 
land, and it could not be cleansed" but by the blood 
of him thai shed it. Defile not therefore the land which 
ft shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I Jehovah dwell 
among the children of Israel." Numb. xxxv. 34. Ac- 
cordingly we read that "the glory of Jehovah filled lie 1 
tabernacle. . . . The cloud of Jehovab was upon the 
tabernacle by 'lay, an I fire was on it by night, in the 
si'.dii of all the house of Israel throughout all their jour- 
neys." Exod. xl. 34, 38. 



138 



THE MESSIAH 



All this phraseology plainly indicates the local pres- 
ence of the Personal Word ; as plainly as the records of 
his visible presence on any occasions. Various other 
scriptures confirm this. When king David said to Na- 
than, "See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the 
ark of God dwelleth within curtains," Nathan was 
directed to " Go and tell David, Thus saith Jehovah, 
Shalt thou build me an house to dwell in? Whereas I 
have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought 
up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day; 
but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle" To this 
follow allusions to his dealings with David, and promises 
concerning the future. "Then went king David in 
[7.?. into the tabernacle] and sat before Jehovah, . . . and 
made acknowledgments, thanksgivings, and prayers to 
Jehovah Zebaoth, the Elohe of Israel." 2 Sam. vii. 

It is thus manifest that the tabernacle was intended 
as the residence of the official Person, and with reference 
to his official works ; and being a figure of his human 
nature, he dwelt in it, and exercised his prophetic, regal, 
and priestly offices in it, as he was to do afterwards when 
literally incarnate. If it represented his human nature, 
then doubtless he dwelt in it ; and if he dwelt in it in 
any sense answerable to his subsequent dwelling in the 
human nature, then he dwelt in it locally and personally, 
The services performed there accordingly imply and 
confirm this view. There was a shedding of blood, the 
blood of the covenant, which has flowed in every age. 
through which remission of sin was granted. See Levit. 
xvii. 2 ; Heb. ix. 22. 

No atonement could be made but by sacrificial blood- 
shedding; and if the shedding and sprinkling of blood 
in the tabernacle service prefigured the true atonement, 
then it referred to the incarnate Word ; and if he was 



IX MOSES AND THE TKOPHETS. 139 

in any manner in the holy place, lie must have dwelt 
there in the person and likeness in which he appeared 
when visible. If any Divine Person was present in the 
tabernacle, it must have been the Mediator in his official 
capacity. For to suppose it to have been the Father, is 
to suppose that in the Levitical services there was in the 
minds of the worshippers no recognition of the Mediator. 
Accordingly, when he visibly appeared incarnate 
among men, he spoke of the temple as representing his 
body. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up. . . . But he spake of the temple of his body." 
John ii. 19, 21. And John, describing the Messiah as 
he appeared visibly incarnate, says the Word was God — ■ 
was in the beginning — created all things. "The Word 
became flesh and dwelt [literally, tabernacled] among us, 
and we beheld his glory." John i. See also the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, especially chap. viii. — x., where the 
Mosaic tabernacle of witness, as it is called in Numbers 
and Acts vii., is in all its essential characteristics and 
objects contrasted with the person and office- work of 
Christ as he appeared incarnate, — "a minister of the 
sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, [his human nature,] 
which the Lord pitched and not man," — in fulfilment 
of the things signified and prefigured in the tabernacle 
of witness, "which was a figure for the time then pres- 
ent." "But Christ being come, ... by a greater and 
more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, . . . by 
n blood entered once into the holy place, [heaven 
as prefigured by the holy of holies within the veil,] 
having obtained eternal redemption for us;" i. e., by the 
offering of his own blood as an atoning sacrifice for sin, 
as prefigured by the sacrificial shedding of blood in the 
Levitical service and the patriarchal worship. " He en- 
tered not, when he offered himself a sacrifice, into the 



140 THE MESSIAH 

holy places made with hands, which are the figures of 
the true, but into heaven itself. Nor yet did he offer 
himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy 
place every year with blood of others, but now once at 
the end of the Levitieal economy, he appeared to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." After he had 
once offered himself a sacrifice for sin, he ascended, and 
" sat down on the right hand of God, thenceforth ex- 
pecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by 
one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are 
sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness 
to us : for after that he had said, This is the covenant 
that I will make with them after those days, saith the 
Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their 
minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities 
will I remember no more. Now where remission of 
these is, there is no more offering for sin. Having 
therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood 
of Jesus, by a new and living [life-giving] way, which 
he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to 
say, his flesh ; and having an High Priest over the house 
of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assur- 
ance of faith." 

The foregoing observations and references show, in 
some degree, how Moses and his inspired successors 
wrote of the Messiah. 



IN 31 OSES AND THE PROPHETS. 1-il 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Of the Chaldee Paraphrasts — Their method of designating the Per- 
sonal Woed or Revealer — Occasion and Necessity of it. 

He who, 'in the primeval dispensation, was, in his 
official character, distinctively announced as the Messen- 
ger Jehovah, and the Messenger Elohim, is, in the sarhe 
character, no less distinctively announced, on his visible 
appearance incarnate, as the Word. And, taking the 
words, John i. 1, last clause, in the order in which 
they occur in the original, " God (Elohim) was the 
Word," lie, in that character, is declared to be the 
Creator. "All things were made by him." " By him" — 
referred to as the Son, and as the image of the invisible 
God, in whom we have redemption through his blood — 
" were all things created, that are in heaven and that 
are in earth, visible and invisible." Col. i. These 
designations and ascriptions undoubtedly identify him 
in respect to his person, and his official character, with 
Elohim, who (Gen. i.) in the beginning created the 
heavens and the earth. 

But the designation translated "Word — a term em- 
ployed in the abstract for the concrete, as light for the 
enlightener, life for life-giver, Logos, or Word, for re- 
vealer- baa a counterpart, of like personal and official 
significance, in the Hebrew Scriptures, which was recog- 
nize! by t!i<' aneienl Jewish church, and by the Chaldee 
paraphxaste; and which, in a Chaldee form, the latter in 
their paraphrases inserted in numerous instances be- 
fore the Divine names, where they understood them to 



142 THE MESSIAH 

• 

indicate the official delegated Person, and where the 
context did not necessarity convey that meaning. 

" The Chaldee paraphrases," says Pridcaux, " are 
translations of the Scriptures of the Old Testament made 
directly from the Hebrew text into the language of the 
Chaldeans ; which language was anciently used through 
all Assyria, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Pal- 
estine. These paraphrases are called Targums, because 
they were versions or translations of the Hebrew text 
into this language. These Targums were made for the 
use and instruction of the vulgar Jews, after their re- 
turn from the Babylonish captivity. For although 
many of the better sort still retained the knowledge of 
the Hebrew language during that captivity, and taught 
it their children ; and the Holy Scriptures that were de- 
livered after that time, excepting only some parts of 
Daniel and Ezra, and one verse in Jeremiah, were all 
written therein ; yet the common people, by having so 
long conversed with the Babylonians, learned their lan- 
guage and forgot their own. It happened indeed other- 
wise to the children of Israel in Egypt. For although 
they lived there above three times as long as the Baby- 
lonish captivity lasted, yet they still preserved the 
Hebrew language among them, and brought it back 
entire with them into Canaan. The reason of this was, 
in Egypt they all lived together in the land of Goshen ; 
but on their being carried captive by the Babylonians, 
they were dispersed all over Chaldea and Assyria, and 
being there intermixed with the people of the land, had 
their main converse with them, and therefore were 
forced to learn their language, and this soon induced a 
disuse of their own among them ; by which means it 
came to pass, that after their return, the common people, 
especially those of them who had been bred up in that 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 143 

captivity, understood not the Holy Scriptures in the 
Hebrew language, nor their posterity after them. And 
therefore when Ezra read the law to the people, (Neh. 
viii.,) he had several persons standing by him well 
skilled in both the Chaldee and the Hebrew languages, 
who interpreted to the people in Chaldee what he first 
read to them in Hebrew. And afterwards, when the 
method was established of dividing the law into fifty- 
four sections, and of reading one of them every week 
in their synagogues, (as hath been already described,) 
the same course of reading to the people the Hebrew 
text first, and then interpreting it to them in Chaldee, 
was still continued. For when the reader had read one 
verse in Hebrew, an interpreter standing by did render 
it in Chaldee; and then the next verse being read in 
Hebrew, it was in like manner interpreted in the same 
language as before ; and so on from verse to verse, was 
every verse alternatively read, first in Hebrew and then 
interpreted in Chaldee, to the end of the section ; and 
this lirst gave occasion for the making of Chaldee ver- 
sions for the help of these interpreters. And they 
thenceforth became necessary not only for their help in 
the public synagogues, but also for the help of the peo- 
ple at home in their families, that they might there have 
the Scriptures for their private reading in a language 
which they understood." 

After further showing how this practice was perpetu- 
ated in the public services of the synagogues, first in 
respect to the law, and afterwards in respect to the pro- 
phetic and other Scriptures ; and that as copies of the 
Scriptures both for public and private use were multi- 
plied, and the number of synagogues increased, the 
Chaldee version was reduced to writing, and read al- 
ternately with the Hebrew, and finally, as he supposes 



144 THE MESSIAH 

was done in the time of our Saviour, read "without and 
in place of the Hebrew, he proceeds to describe the sev- 
eral Targums which have come down to the present 
time. Of these, the two which are most esteemed are 
those of Onkelos on the Pentateuch, and Jonathan on 
the Prophets, which are supposed to have been copied 
or essentially derived by them from the earlier and well- 
accredited versions, and to have been written or edited 
about the same time, and not long before the commence- 
ment of the Christian era. The Targum of Onkelos, he 
observes, is rather a version than a paraphrase, for it 
renders the Hebrew text word for word. But Jonathan, 
he adds, takes on him the liberty of a paraphrast. 

Of these Targums, and others of a later date, it is 
known that they exhibit or construe the predictions 
concerning the Messiah in the same way as is done by 
Christians. That of Onkelos in particular, which" is held 
to be the most ancient and the purest, and from which 
Prideaux supposes our Saviour to have quoted in seve- 
ral instances, which he specifies, is remarkable in this 
respect. And if, as is supposed, it represents literally 
or substantially the version which originated under the 
superintendence of Ezra, when, from the long disuse of 
the Hebrew Scriptures and the ignorance of the people 
generally of their meaning, it was of the first necessity 
to their instruction and reformation to explain the im- 
port and reference of the Divine names and titles in the 
books of Moses, where the prophets and church of pre- 
ceeding ages understood them to designate the Personal 
Word ; then the frequent insertion, before the names 
Jehovah and Elohim, of the term Memra as equivalent 
to Logos, is a reliable exposition and attestation of the 
faith of Ezra and his predecessors. And, apparently, 
every consideration is in favor of this view of the case. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 145 

The word in question is inserted before the words 
Jehovah and Elohim where the creation is asserted, so 
that the act is affirmed of the Word, or the Word Elo- 
him, or the Word Jehovah Elohim ; for which no rea- 
son can be assigned or justification offered, unless the. 
personal reference was the same as that of John in as- 
cribing the creation to the Logos. By a like insertion 
the giving of the law to Moses at mount Sinai is 
ascribed to the Word Elohim ; speaking to him face to 
face, to the Word Jehovah ; and in numerous other 
instances, where personal acts are affirmed, and where 
the personal reference necessarily includes the added as 
well as the original designation. If this was done by 
Ezra, then he did but add what the circumstances of his 
time required to the example of Moses, who sometimes 
referred to the delegated One, the personal Word, by 
the single terms, Jehovah and Elohim, and at others by 
the compound designations, Melach Jehovah and Me- 
lach Elohim. In his case, uniformity in this respect 
was rendered unnecessary, and diversity intelligible, by 
the prevalent sentiment, knowledge, and usage of the 
people. On the contrary, in the other case, the igno- 
rance and disuse of the original Hebrew, on the part of 
the people, rendered it necessary, first in the oral trans- 
lation and exposition, and afterwards in the written 
versions of the sacred books, to insert, at appropriate 
places, a term adapted, like Logos in the Greek, to sug- 
gest, or by definition and use to receive and fix the re- 
quisite meaning as a designation. 

There is in the nature of the case a very strong prob- 
ability that the practice of inserting this expository 
term in the Chaldee versions was originally sanctioned 
by higher authority than any that we have notice of, 
after the time of Ezra, or that of Malachi, who is by 
7 



146 THE MESSIAH 

some supposed to have been the same person as Ezra, 
and by others to have been contemporary. Of all peo- 
ple, the Jews were the least likely to receive and adopt 
such an exposition in relation to the Divine names, 
without the prescription and sanction of a prophet. 
The supposition of its having originated and been 
brought into use and favor at a later period is wholly 
improbable, whether considered in relation to the nature 
and tendency of the practice, or to the condition of the 
Jews down to the time of our Saviour. It is, in itself, 
far more probable that the devout Jews during the cap- 
tivity in Babylon, with Ezekiel, who had visions of 
the Personal Word in the likeness of man, and who 
appears sometimes, if not often, to refer to Him by the 
Hebrew term Dabar, answering to the Chaldee Memra, 
Word, or Eevealer ; with Daniel, who had visions of 
the same delegated one, in the same form ; and with 
Ezra and other of their disciples of the sacerdotal and 
prophetic order, held the same faith as the prophets 
and patriarchs of earlier times, concerning the person, 
agency, and manifestations of the Messiah; recognized 
him under the same designations, and, on their return to 
Jerusalem, adopted, under the guidance of Ezra, an 
additional title, rendered necessary to the common 
people by their disuse of Hebrew, and their use of 
another language, which was thenceforth to be their 
vulgar tongue. 

And if not, from the circumstances of the case, to be 
assumed as needing no confirmation, it is at least pro- 
bable in the highest degree that the Great Eevealer 
would in such a way provide for the maintenance and 
perpetuity of a church of true worshippers, holding the 
doctrines and the faith of the patriarchs and prophets 
concerning his person, and the manifestations and titles 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 147 

by which he was known to them ; a succession of 
devout, instructed, and faithful worshippers, who, at 
whatever time his advent might take place, would, on 
his appearance in a form answering to that in which 
Abraham and others saw him, be ready and waiting, 
like Simeon and Anna, to see and to proclaim their re- 
cognition of him. 

The weight of this probability is greatlj r enhanced 
by the consideration, that the earlier and principal 
agencies and instrumentalities by which those doctrines 
and that faith had been maintained were discontinued 
prior to the deportation of the Jews and the destruction 
of their temple, and were never afterwards renewed. 
For, previous to these events, Jehovah in the similitude 
of man, radiant in appearance as the brightness of amber 
and of fne, appeared to Ezekiel at his place of exile, 
and in vision transported him to Jerusalem. And hav- 
ing exhibited to his astonished gaze the utter desecra- 
tion of every part of the temple by the most impious 
and loathsome abominations of idolatry; and having 
notified him of the tokens by which the remnant of 
true worshippers was to be discriminated, and how they 
vrere to be preserved; and predicted that restoration 
which is yet future; and shown for his own conviction 
and that of the captives on his report to them, the 
grounds and reasons of his righteous judgments upon 
tin- rest; and finally having passed from the interior 
of the temple to the threshold, and assumed the glori- 
ous form, with the cherubic accompaniments, in which 
he had appeared by the river of Ohebar, (chap, i.,) "he 
departed from off the threshold of the house, and," in 
!it of the prophet, " mounted up from,the earth," 
ami afterwards ''went up from the midst of the city," 
natlmr, from over the city,) "and stood upon the moun- 



148 THE MESSIAH 

tain which is on the east side of the city." "So," adds 
Ezekiel, ' ; the vision that I had seen went up from me." 
Ezekiel, chap. viii. — xi. 

Ezekiel was one of the captives carried to Babylon 
with Jehoiachin, B. C. 600. Jehoiachin was the last 
Avho in due succession sat on the throne of David. He 
was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar, who placed Zedekiah 
on the throne as his own viceroy and vassal. 

No one of the family of David ever afterwards reigned 
over Judah. The theocratic viceroyalty ceased ; the 
temporal kingdom of the house of David was dissolved. 
Jehovah, being rejected by his covenant people, and 
idolatry substituted for his worship, forsook his temple, 
discontinued his former theocratic relation, ceased to 
manifest himself in the Shekina, and turned to execute 
wrath upon Judah and Israel for their idolatrous abom- 
inations, and upon the surrounding nations whose idols 
they worshipped, and by whom they had been seduced 
and oppressed. 

This signal procedure was the sequel of many clear 
and emphatic predictions, and a long course of disci- 
pline tending to restrain the whole house of Israel, and 
more especially the house of Judah, from total apostasy 
and alienation; and its occurrence is distinctly noted 
by the prophets. 

The reformation and reign of Hezekiih were suc- 
ceeded by unprecedented abominations of idolatry dur- 
ing the reign of Manasseh his son. " He built up again 
the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed ; 
and ho reared up altars for Baal; and worshipped all 
the host of heaven, and served them. And he built 
altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, 
In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars 
for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 149 

house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through 
the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, 
and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought 
much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, [his presence 
in the Shekina,] to provoke him to anger. And he set 
a graven image of the grove [i.e., the pillar or statue] 
that he had made, in the house of the Lord," probably 
within the veil confronting the Shekina. He seduced 
the people " to do more evil than did the nations whom 
the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. And 
the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying : 
Because Manasseh King of Judah hath clone these 
abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that 
the Amorites did which were before him, and hath 
made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus 
saith the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing 
such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever 
heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch 
►over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet 
of the house of Ahab ; and I will wipe Jerusalem as 
a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside 
down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inherit- 
ance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; 
and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their 
enemies? 1 2 Kings xxi. and 2 Chron. xxxiii. 

Manasgeh was succeeded by Amon his son, "who 
di'l that which was evil in tin- sight of the Lord, and 
walked in all theways thai his, father walked in, and 
Si rved iIh- idols that his father served, and worshipped 
them." 2 Kings .\.\i. In the nexl reign, that of Josiah, 
a genernl reformation was wrought, and idolatry and its 
monuments were temporarily |>nt away. "Notwithstand- 
ing, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great 



150 THE MESSIAH 

wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, 
because of all the provocations that Manasseh had pro- 
voked him withal. And the Lord said, I will remove 
Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, 
and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have 
chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be 
there." 2 Kings xxiii. 

On the death of Josiah, the people set up his son 
Jehoahaz to be king, who did "evil in the sight of the 
Lord, according to all that his fathers had done." And 
at the end of three months he was deposed by the King 
of Eg}-pt, who placed in his stead as his vassal, another 
son of Josiah, whose name he changed from Eliakim to 
Jehoiakim, probably in derision, substituting the ini- 
tial of the name Jehovah for that of the name Elohim, 
to indicate his assumed triumph over the peculiar God 
of the Jewish people. 

Jehoiakim "did that which was evil in the sight of 
the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done." 
From him the kingdom passed to his son Jehoiachin, 
who at the end of three months was vanquished by the 
King of Babylon and carried captive with the princes, 
officers, and most of the people, and the treasures of the 
temple. The kingdom was thus broken up. Nebuchad- 
nezzar, however, left Zedekiah as his vassal in charge 
of Jerusalem. Under him, notwithstanding the im- 
pending destruction of the city and temple, " the chief 
of the priests and the remaining people transgressed 
very much after all the abominations of the heathen, 
and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hal- 
lowed in Jerusalem. They mocked the messengers of 
God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, 
until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people till 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 151 

there was no remedy;" and they were subdued, the 
temple and city burnt, and the wall of Jerusalem 
broken down. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 

The formal abdication and abandonment of the throne 
of David was consummated by the seizure and captivity 
of Jehoiachin. "As I live, saith the Lord, though 
Coniah [Jehoiachin] the son of Jehoiakim King of 
Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would 
I pluck thee thence." "O earth, earth, earth, hear the 
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, Write ye this 
man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days : 
for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the 
throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. 
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise 
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign 
and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in 
the earth. In his clays Judah shall be saved, and Israel 
shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall 
be called, The Lord our Kighteousness." Jer. xxiii. 
So, before the capture and exile of Jehoiachin, it was 
announced of Jehoiakim his father, " He shall have 
none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead 
body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the 
night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed, 
and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah." 
Jer. xxxvi. 

Tims Jehovah in the most public and formal manner 
forsook and withdrew from the temple, and terminated 
the theocracy; the procedure being attended by visible 
exhibitions, and verbal explanations and announcements 
intelligible to Ezekiel, and adapted to qualify him to 
vindicate it to the captives, and to forewarn them of the 
Inflictions and desolations which were to follow. Ac- 
cordingly, neither the Shekina nor any tokens of the 



152 THE MESSIAH 

Divine presence there afterwards appeared. When the 
structure was demolished by the Chaldeans, the altar 
and all the interior furniture was destroyed or removed, 
and never again recovered. In the new erection under 
Cyrus, when dedicated, and ever after, the ark of the 
covenant and the mercy -seat upon it, the Shekina, the 
Urim and Thummim, the holy fire upon the altar, and 
the spirit of prophecy, were irrecoverably wanting. 
The construction which was substituted for the original 
ark had neither the tables of the law nor any of its 
other contents, nor any visible glory over it, nor oracles 
proceeding from it. The Divine presence, always before 
visible in a cloud over the mercy-seat, returned no more. 
An imitation altar was erected, but the fire which came 
down from heaven upon the altar in the tabernacle, and 
again at the dedication of the first temple, had been 
extinguished, and was not again restored. Jehovah, 
officially, as prophet, priest, and king, had withdrawn, 
not to reappear till he should come, the Messenger of 
the Covenant, in fulfilment of Malachi's prediction. 

The new structure therefore was, at least to all but 
those whose worship was purely and eminently spiritual, 
a cold, cheerless, and dark arena of formal and weari- 
some rites and ceremonies; a lifeless round of irksome 
forms, without any visible tokens of the Divine presence, 
or of Divine recognition or acceptance ; an}* oracular 
responses, any fire from heaven, or other vindications, 
confirmations, or sanctions of the doctrines or faith 
professed or signified by the services and offerings of 
the worshippers. 

Hence the degenerac}*, formalism, and hypocrisy 
which subsequently characterized the temple worship, 
as recorded by Malachi and his contemporaries, 
and in the later history of the Jews down to our 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 153 

Saviour's time ; their separation into discordant sects ; 
the renunciation by the mass of them of the divine 
Mediator and the doctrine of Mediation, and their adop- 
tion exclusively of the doctrine of the Unity, as held 
by them to this day ; and the necessity, in order to the 
maintenance among the true worshippers of the doc- 
trines and faith of the patriarchs and prophets, of pro- 
viding and perpetuating in their vulgar tongue such 
expositions as were furnished by the Chaldee paraphrasts. 

A further confirmation to the same effect might be 
deduced from a consideration of the results of the 
scheme of reformation ascribed to Zoroaster towards 
the close of the Babylonish exile, whereby he hoped 
to unite the Jews with the Chaldeans, Persians, &c, in 
one sect, by purging the Magian system of worship 
from idolatrj', restoring it to what he held to be its prim- 
itive purity, and combining with it the doctrine of one 
supreme creative intelligence, the doctrine of a resur- 
rection, and other tenets of the Jews which might be 
incorporated in a system that neither taught nor ad- 
mitted a Mediator, or any doctrine of Divine or crea- 
ture mediation. This artful scheme, which was more or 
lecessful at the time, and which, among those Jews 
of Babylon and the provinces who did not return to 
Palestine, may be traced down for centuries in the his- 
tory of Oriental Gnosticism, obviously furnished a fur- 
ther reason for guarding the true worshippers, after the 
period of exile and the cessation of prophetic gifts, by 
such means as tin- Chaldee versions furnish. 

Lei it be further'observed, as not unworthy of particu- 
lar notice, that the Samaritans, from the very commence- 
up 'Mi of their history, and of their rivalship and hostility 
to the Jews, ami the erection of their temple on Mount 
Gcriziin, simultaneously with that of the restored -lews 
7* 



154 THE MESSIAH 

at Jerusalem, received and used no portion of the sacred 
writings then extant, except the books of Moses ; and 
that they perseveringly rejected all traditions, and all 
glosses and comments on the original text. And yet 
from the saying of the Samaritan woman, " I know 
that Messiah cometh ; (that is, the Christ, the Anointed;) 
when he is come, he will teach us all things," it 
would seem that, down to our Saviour's time, they 
understood the true doctrine concerning his person, his 
incarnation, and the titles by which he would be dis- 
tinguished. When told that he who was then present 
in the form of man, and who spoke to her, was the 
Messiah, she manifested no surprise or doubt. Many of 
the Samaritans believed in him oh her testimony. 
"And many more believed because of what they heard 
from himself," and said, "We know that this is truly 
the Saviour of the World, the Messiah." [Campbell.) 

Now, since they held no intercourse with the Jews, 
and, from prejudice and hostility, would learn nothing 
from them ; and since they received only the Pentateuch 
and rejected all traditions, it would seem that they 
must from the beginning of their history have under- 
stood the Mosaic writings to teach those doctrines ; and 
from continual study of them as the only source of their 
religious knowledge, hopes and expectations, must have 
perpetuated the sentiments with which they originally 
received them. 

" That the sentiments of the woman who conversed 
at the well with Christ were the same with those of the 
Samaritans in general, will not admit of a doubt ; for 
from whence could a common person like her have ob- 
tained the information she discovers on several points 
relating to the Messiah, unless from popular traditions 
current amongst those of her own nation ? These senti- 



EH MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 155 

ments then furnish us with, a strong argument in answer 
to those who contend that the more ancient Hebrews 
entertained no expectation of a Messiah, but that this 
hope first sprang up amongst the Jews some short time 
before the coming of our Saviour. So deep and inve- 
terate was the enmity which subsisted between the 
Jews and the Samaritans, that it is utterly incredible 
that a hope of this kind should have been communi- 
cated from either of them to the other. It necessarily 
follows, therefore, that as both of them were, at the time 
of our Saviour's birth, looking for the appearance of a 
Messiah from above, they must have derived the expec- 
tation from one common source, doubtless the books of 
Moses and the discipline of their ancestors ; and conse- 
quently that this hope was entertained long before the 
Babylonish captivity, and the rise of the Samaritans. 
I mention only the books of Moses, because it is well 
known that the Samaritans did not consider any of the 
other writings of the Old Testament as sacred or of 
Divine original; and it is therefore not at all likely that 
any information which they might possess respecting 
the Messiah that was to come should have been drawn 
from any other source. In the discourse of the Sama- 
ritan woman, we likewise discover what were the senti- 
ments of the ancient Hebrews respecting the Messiah. 
The expectation of the Jews at the time of our Saviour's 
coming was, as we have seen, directed towards a war- 
like leader, a hero, an emperor, who should recover for 
the oppressed posterity of Abraham their liberty and 
rights ; but the Samaritans, as appears from the con- 
ion of this woman, looked forward to the Messiah 
in the light of a spiritual teacher and guide, who should in- 
struct them in a more perfect and acceptable way of serv- 
ing God than that which they then followed. Now the 



156 THE MESSIAH 

Samaritans bad always kept themselves entirely distinct 
from the Jews, and would never consent to adopt any 
point of doctrine or discipline from them ; and the con- 
sequence was, that the ancient opinion respecting the 
Messiah had been retained in much greater purity by 
the former than by the Jews, whose arrogance and im- 
patience under the calamities to which they were ex- 
posed, had brought them by degrees to turn their backs 
on the opinions entertained by their forefathers on this 
subject, and to cherish the expectation that, in the 
Messiah promised to them by God, they should have to 
hail an earthly prince and deliverer. Lastly, I think it 
particularly deserving of attention, that it is clear from 
what is said by this woman, that the Samaritans did not 
consider the Mosaic Law in the light of a permanent 
establishment, but expected that it would pass away, 
and its place be supplied by a more perfect system of 
discipline on the coming of the Messiah. For when she 
hears our Saviour predict the downfall of the Samaritan 
as well as the Jewish religion, instead of taking lire at 
his words, and taxing him, after the Jewish manner, 
with blasphemy against God and against Moses, 
(Acts vi. 13-15,) she answers with mildness and com- 
posure that she knew the Messiah would come, and was 
not unapprised that the religion of her ancestors would 
then undergo a change." (Mosheim, Int. Com. chap. 2.) 
The Jews, on the contrary, as is hereafter more particu- 
larly observed, had renounced the Divine Mediator and 
the entire doctrine of mediation between God and man. 
They did not expect the promised Messiah in the character 
of Mediator, but, holding no distinction of persons in the 
Godhead, they gloried in the doctrine of the Unity ; 
believed the Mosaic Law and institutions would be per- 
petual, and trusted to their observance of them for salva- 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 157 

tion. It were easy to multiply citations to show that 
they still entertain those views. A single instance may 
suffice. In the London Jewish Chronicle for May, 
1852, the chief Rabbi of the great synagogue, in a 
sermon on the first day of the Feast of Weeks, is quoted 
as saying: "A man who has a ro}*al patron, when in 
distress applies first to the Minister, to know if an 
audience will be granted ; but with respect to (rod, if 
man is in trouble he wants no Mediator, or angels, but 
calls to God alone, and he shall be heard. And this 
cheering belief in the unity of God is quieting to the 
mind." 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Citations from the Chaldee Paraphrases. 

The earliest Chaldee paraphrases which have been 
handed down are supposed to have been compiled or 
written about the time of the first advent, when the 
true worshippers maybe supposed to have been anxious 
to revive and spread abroad the knowledge of them in 
such manner as to induce the Jews of that period to 
recognize the Messiah in the incarnate Word. The fol- 
low ing testimonies from those writings of the sentiments 
of the Jewish Church concerning tin' Messiah as under- 
stood by them to be revealed in the ancient Scriptures, 
and his identity with the Messenger Jehovah, are, for 
the Bake of his comments, taken from Faber's Ilorce 
.!/ aicce: 

" When'the text reads, They heard the voice of the Lord 



158 THE MESSIAH 

God walking in the garden, the Targums explain the 
passage to mean : They heard theWoKD of the Lord God 
walking ; or, somewhat more fully, they heard die voice of 
' - Word of the Lord God walking. In point of gram- 
matical construction, even the modern Jews allow that 
the participle walking agrees with the voice, and not 
with the Lord God. But walking is the attribute of a 
person. Therefore the Targums rightly gave the sense 
of the original when they introduced the Word as the 
judge of our first parents." 

The exclamation of Eve, I have gotten a man from 
the Lord, they render, " I have obtained the man, the angel 
of Jehovah ! Now, since Jehovah is the word used in the 
original, it is difficult to account for this paraphrastic 
exposition, unless we conclude that, at the time when it 
was written, the Jews believed the angel of Jehovah to 
be himself Jehovah, and expected him to be born in- 
carnate." 

"To this opinion we shall' the rather incline, if we 
attend to another paraphrastic interpretation. The sacred 
text reads : In that day shall Jehovah of hosts be for a 
crown of glory y and for a diadem of beauty unto the . 
of his people. But the Targum of Jonathan reads: In 
that day shall the Messiah of Jehovah of hosts be for a crown 
of glory. Jonathan, however, could never have thus 
explained the passage, unless he had believed that the 
future Messiah would be Jehovah incarnate ; nor would 
he have hazarded so extraordinary an interpretation, 
unless he had been fully conscious of speaking the gene- 
ral sentiments of his contemporaries. It is well known 
that the Jews so highly venerate the Targum of this 
writer, as to deem it something divine ; yet we see that 
Jonathan identifies the Messiah with Jehovah himself. 
The doctrine in question still prevailed among the Jews 



IN MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 159 

at the time when Justin Martyr flourished, as is 
manifest from his direct appeal to Trypho. If ice pro- 
duce to them, says he, those scriptures formerly rehearsed 
to you, which expressly show that the Messiah is both subject 
to suffering, and yet is the adorable God, they are under a 
necessity of acknowledging that these respect the Christ. So 
that while they assert that Jesus is not the Christ, they still 
confess that the Christ himself shall come, and suffer, and 
reign, and be the adorable God: which conduct of theirs is 
truly most absurd and ^contradictory. I need scarcely 
remark, that Justin could never have hazarded such 
language to a Hebrew antagonist, unless he knew that 
he had very good ground for what he said. 

11 But to return to the Targums, where the text reads : 
Let not God speak with us, lest we die, the interpretation 
of Onkelos runs, Let not the Word from before the Lord 

with us. So likewise where the text reads, She 
called die name of Jehovah that spake unto her, Thou God 
seest me, the Targum of Jonathan runs, She confessed 

the Lord Jehovah, whose Word had spoken unto her. 
And the Targum of Jerusalem, She confessed and prayed 
to the Word of the Lord who had appeared to her. Now 
lerson who appeared to Hagar was the angel of 
Jehovah. The paraphrasts therefore identify the Wad 
and the Angel. Hence it is plain that by the Word of 
Grod they do no1 mean a speech uttered by God, but 
that they use the term to express a real person. By 
this personal Word they understood the Messiah; as is 
evidenl from Jonathan's interpretation of the text, 
Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand. 
Ee explains its purport to be, Jehovah said unto his Word. 
Bui it is manifesl from our Saviour's conversation with 
the Pharisees relative to the uature and parentage of 
the Messiah, that they acknowledge this text to relate 



160 THE MESSIAH 

to him ; and it appears from the Midrash Tillim that 
such an application is fully recognized by the Jewish 
Rabbins. Hence the inference is inevitable, that the 
Hebrew doctors confess the Messiah to be the "Word of 
God or the angel of Jehovah. And hence we shall at 
once perceive why St. John so pointedly bestows the 
title upon his divine Master. He did but employ the 
usual phraseology of his countiwmen respecting the 
promised Messiah ; yet, by applying the name of Jesus 
of Nazareth, he at once declared him to be the Messiah, 
and that angel of Jehovah who was confessedly the God 
both of the Patriarchal and of the Levitical Church. 

"Agreeably to this obvious conclusion, the Targums 
exhibit the "Word with all the characteristics of the 
expected Messiah. 

" They describe him as the Mediator between God and 
man. 

"Thus, in paraphrasing a text from Deuteronomy i v. 7. 
Jonathan writes: God is near in the name of the Word of 
Jehovah; in paraphrasing a text of Hosea iv.9, God will 
receive (he prayer of Israel by his Word, and have mercy 
upon them, and will make them by his Word like a beautiful 
fig tree. And in paraphrasing a text of Jeremiah xxix.14: 
I will be sought by you in my Word, and I wiU be inquired, 
of by you through my Word. Thus likewise where 
Abraham is said b} r Moses to have called on the name of 
Jehovah the everlasting God, he is described by the Tar- 
gum of Jerusalem as praying in the name of the Word of 
Jehovah, the God of the world. 

"They speak of him as making atonement for sin. 

" Thus, in paraphrasing a text of Deuteronomy, 
(xxxii. 48,) Jonathan writes: God will atone by his Word 
for his land and for his people, even a people saved by the 
Word of Jehovah. 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 161 

" They exhibit him as a Kedeemer. 

" Thus the text from Genesis xlix. 18, i" have waited 
for thy salvation, Jehovah, is paraphrased as follows 
in the Jerusalem Targum : Our father Jacob said thus: 
My soul expects not the redemption of Gideon the son of 
. which is a temporal salvation ; nor the redemption of 
Samson, which is a transitory salvation; bid the redemp- 
tion which thou didst promise should come through thy 
Word to thy people. This salvation my soul traits for. 
Thus the same text is paraphrased by Jonathan with 
a direct application to the Messiah ; whence again we 
find it to be the established doctrine of the ancient 
Hebrew Church, that the Messiah and the Word were 
the same person. Our father Jacob said : / do not 
the '/' liir,-, i n r_e of Gideon die son of Joash, which is a 
temporal salvation ; nor that of Samson die son of Manoah, 
which is a transient salvation ; but I expect die redemption 
of Messiah die son of David, who shall come to gather to 
himself the children of Israel. 

" The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan were written 
immediately before the time of Christ, and among the 
Jews the}' are in such high esteem, that they hold them 
to be of the same authority with the original text. Of 
this extravagant honor the ground is, that those two 
interpreters committed to writing the ancient oral tradi- 
tions, which [they supposed] had come down in regular 
1 from their first communication to Moses on the 
top "(' Mount Sinai. 

'•Such an opinion proves at least the high antiquity 
of tin' sentiments contained in those Targums; and, as 
the Targums themselves were composed before the 
Christian era, they must clearly he viewed as exhibiting 
the doctrine of the Levitical Church ere an inveterate 



162 THE MESSIAH 

hatred of the gospel led to a suppression or conceal- 
ment of the ancient faith. 

"The later Targums were written subsequent to the 
time of our Lord; but so far as regards the present 
argument, their importance is not the less on that 
account. Those of Onkelos and Jonathan show the 
tenets of the Hebrew Church before Christ; those which 
are later prove, by their accordance with their prede- 
cessors, that the same doctrine continued in full force 
during the first centuries after the Christian era. Thus, 
notwithstanding Jesus of Nazareth was denied to be 
the Messiah, the Jews," [meaning of course the old 
school, orthodox party,] "it is plain from the written 
evidence of the later Targums, did not immediately 
depart from the sentiments of their forefathers relative 
to the character of the Messiah." 

After quoting testimonies from different Jewish 
Eabbins, he observes: "The reason why the Rabbins 
pronounced the Messiah to be Jehovah, was this : Fol- 
lowing the ancient Targums, which spoke the univer- 
sally received doctrines of the Hebrew Church, they 
perceived, like the authors of those Targums. that the 
Messiah was the same person as the anthropomorphic 
"Word, or Angel of Jehovah. But they knew that the 
Angel of Jehovah was the God of Abraham and of 
Isaac and of Jacob. And they were assured that their 
pious forefathers did not idolatrously worship a creature, . 
but that they venerated the self-existent God, Jehovah. 
Hence they rightly determined that Jehovah was the 
name of the Messiah. This will appear very distinctly, 
if we attend to their doctrine respecting the great angel 
whom they cabal istically denominated Metraton." (Yol. 
2, sec. 1, chap, iii.) 



IX MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 163 

The reader will observe that this author construes 
the formulas Melach Jehovah, Memra Jehovah, &c., in 
the same way as our translation, Angel of the Lord, 
Word of the Lord, &c. ; and while correctly holding 
that the Angel or Messenger, and the Logos, Memra, 
or Word, are personally identical with Jehovah, still 
indicates a distinction, as though the former persons 
were sent by the latter. This is undoubtedly incon- 
sistent and unauthorized. Had he in his construction 
left out the preposition of as the original does, all would 
have been clear. 

The following extracts are collected from Dr. J. P. 
Smith's work, The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah. 

Onkelos renders Jacob's prediction of Shiloh, Gen. 
xlix., '• The Messiah whose is the kingdom." The Jeru- 
salem Targum, ' ; The King Messiah whose is the kingdom." 
Jonathan on Sain, xxiii. 1-7: " The God of Israel spoke 
with respect to me; the Eock of Israel, the Sovereign of 
the sons of men, the true Judge, hath spoken to appoint 
me King; for He is the Messiah that shall be, who shall 
arise and rule in the fear of the Lord." The Chaldee 
and other Targums generally refer the 2d Psalm to the 
Messiah. Also the 45th Psalm, v. 2: " Thy beauty, 
King Messiah, ia preeminent above the sons of men.'' 
Jonathan renders Isaiah xxiii 5: "Behold, the days 
are coming, saith the Lord, when I will raise up to David 
the M'-.-i.ili of the Righteous, and he shall reign," &c. 
And xxxiii. 15: "In those days and in that time, Twill 
raise up to David the Messiah of righteousness," &c. 
And Micah v. 1: "And thou, Bethlehem, out of thee 
shall proceed in my presence the Messiah to exercise 
sovereignty over Israel, whose name has been called 
from eternity, from the days of the everlasting period." 
Zech. iii. 8 : " Behold, I bring forth my servant the 



164 THE MESSIAH 

Messiah, and he shall be revealed." And vi. 12: "Be- 
hold a man, Messiah is his name, ready that he may be 
revealed and may spring forth, and may build the tem- 
ple Of Jail." 

The Jerusalem Targum, referring to Abraham when 
Jehovah appeared to him as a man, says: "The Word 
of Jehovah [Memra Jehovah] appeared to him in the 
Valley of Vision." Jonathan on Isaiah xlviii. 12: "Obey 
my Word ;" and 13 : "Even by my Word I have founded 
the earth;" xlix. 16: "My Word will not reject t nv." 
Jer. xxix. 23 : "Before me it is unveiled, and my Word 
is witness ;" xxxi. 4 : " For my Word is to Israel as a 
Father ;" xxxii. 10 : " My Word shall not turn away 
from following them to do them good, and my Word 
shall rejoice over them to do them good." Ezek. xx. 12 : 
"I gave them my Sabbath days, to be for a sign between 
my Word and them, that they may know that I am Jah 
who sanctify them." The Targumists generally sub- 
stitute the word Jah for Jehovah. Jonathan on Gen. 
v. 26: "That was the generation in whose days they 
began to apostatize, and made to themselves falsehoods, 
[o]- idols,] and named their falsehoods by the name of 
the Word of Jah." Jer. Tar. on Exodus vi. 2: "And 
Jah was revealed by his Word to Abraham, to Isaac, and 
to Jacob." Var. Tar. Isaiah xliii. 2 : " In ancient time, 
when ye passed through the Red Sea, my Word was for 
your help ;" xlv. 17 : "Israel shall 1)3 delivered by the 
Word of Jah, with an everlasting deliverance;" v. 25: 
" By the Word of Jah si all all the seed of Israel be de- 
clared righteous, and shall glory;" lxiii. 8 : " JNly people 
are they, sons who will not deal falsely ; and his Word 
was their Redeemer;" v. 13: "He led them through the 
deep: the Word of Jah led them." Jer. vi. 8 : "Be 
admonished, Jerusalem, lest my Word cast thee onv 



IN MOSES AXP THE PEOPHETS. 165 

Hosea xiv. 9 : "I by ray Word will accept the prayer of 
Israel." Zach. vi. 7: "Not by force, nor by power, 
but by my Word, saith Jah of hosts. And he will 
reveal the Messiah whose name is spoken from eternity, 
and he shall reign over all kingdoms." 

The author quotes the following from Dr. Ryland and 
the Prolegomena to Walton's Pokyglot : " There are 
many passages of the Chaldee Paraphrasts which could 
have been derived only from the remains of the expo- 
sitions and doctrines delivered by the prophets. They 
have many things concerning the Word of God, by 
whom the universe was created, &c, and which admirably 
confirm, the declarations of St, John upon the Logos, 
and prove that in so designating the Messiah or Son of 
God, the Evangelist employed a name already in fami- 
liar use among the Jews, as received from their ances- 
tors, though not perfectly understood by all among 
them. To this Word the Jerusalem Targum on Gen. 
i. 27 attributes creation: ' The Word of the Lord cre- 
ated man.' And xxxii. 22 : 'And the Word of the 
Lord said, Behold Adam whom I have created.' Jon 
athan on Deut. xxxii. 39, says: 'When will the Word 
of the Lord be manifested to redeem his people?' The 
same Targum on Gen. xix. 24, ascribes to the Word of 
the Lord the sending down of sulphur and fire on Sodom 
and Gomorrah: 'Sulphur and lire were sent down 
opon it from the Word of the Lord out of heaven.' 
So likewise Onkelos : 'And the Word of the Lord re- 
turned.' And on Gen. v. 24: 'Enoch was taken away 
by the Word before the Lord.' So the Jerusalem, 
Deut. xviii. L9: 'My Word will take vengeance upon 
him.' So Onkelos and Jonathan. The passages are 
jfanumerable in which actions and properties are attri- 
buted to the Word of God, as a distinct Person." 



166 THE MESSIAH 

Again, quoting Owen as referred to by Kyland : " The 
Chaldee Paraphrast, observing that some especial pre- 
sence of God is expressed in the words, Gen. iii. 8, 
renders them, 'And they heard the voice of the Word 
of the Lord God walking in the garden.' So all the 
Targums. And that of Jerusalem begins the next 
verse accordingly : And the Word of the Lord God 
called unto Adam.' And this expression they after- 
wards make use of in places innumerable ; and that in 
such a way as plainly to denote a distinct Person in the 
Deity. That this was their intention in it, is hence man- 
ifest ; because about the time of the writing of the first 
of those Targums which gave the rule of speaking unto 
them that followed, it was usual amongst them to ex- 
press their conceptions of the Son of God by the name 
of the Logos, or Word of God.' " (Owen on Epist. Heb. 
Vol. 1.) 

"At this time, there was nothing more common 
among the Hebrews than to denote the second subsist- 
ence of the Deity by the name of the Word of God. 
They were now divided into two great parts : first the 
inhabitants of Canaan, with the regions adjoining, and 
many old remnants in the East, who used the Syro- 
Chaldean language, being but one dialect of the Hebrew ; 
and secondly, the dispersions under the Greek empire, 
who are commonly called Hellenists, and also used the 
Greek tongue. And both these sorts did usually, in 
their several languages, describe the second Person in 
the Trinity by the name of the Word of God. For the 
former sort, or those who used the Syro-Chaldean 
dialect, we have an eminent proof of it in the transla- 
tion of the Scripture which, at least some part of it, 
was made about this time amongst them, commonly 
called the Ghaldee Paraphrase ; in the whole whereof 



EH MOSES AJSTD THE PROPHETS. 167 

the second Person is mentioned under the name of 
Memra dejeja, or the Word of God. Hereunto are all 
personal properties and all divine works in that trans- 
lation assigned ; with an illustrious testimony to the 
faith of the old Church concerning the distinct subsist- 
ence of a plurality of Persons in the Divine nature. 
And for the Hellenists who wrote and expressed them- 
selves in the Greek tongue, they used the name Logos, 
the Word of God, to the same purpose : as I have else- 
where manifested out of the writings of Philo, who 
lived about this time, between the death of our Saviour 
and the destruction of Jerusalem." {Owen, Vol. 2.) 

It will be observed that in all the translations of the 
Targums, and in the comments of Iiyland and Owen, 
the same usage is exhibited as in our translation, of mak- 
ing the Jehovah the genitive of the official appellative 
which precedes it. Hence the mystery and confusion 
which have so generally been thought to attend the 
official designations of the Old Testament. But if it be 
considered that in the use of the terms Logos, Dabar, 
and Memra, where a personal reference is intended, the 
abstract is put for the concrete, as Word for Revealer, 
so that where these words are coupled with Jehovah 
the reading should be The Revealer, or The Revealing 
Jehovah, — as in the case of Melach Jehovah, the reading 
should be, The Messenger, or The Sent or delegated Jehovah, 
or the Messenger who is Jehovah, — the use of those 
terms as personal designations will suggest no difficulty. 



168 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER XV. 

Reasons of the Failure of the modern versions of the Scriptures to ex- 
hibit clearly the Hebrew designations of the Messiah — The Masorctic 
Punctuation — Reference to the term Melach and the formula Melach 
Jehovah. 

But if, in the ancient dispensations, the Messenger 
Jehovah, the delegated official Person, Messiah, was, in 
all relations, the actor, administrator, and revealer; if 
Moses and the prophets wrote intelligibly of Him ; if 
they recognized and acknowledged him under all the 
Divine designations, why, it may naturally be asked, 
did not the authors of the English and other modern 
versions so understand, and in their translations con- 
strue and represent them? An answer to this question, 
in all its bearings, probably no one now would be in- 
clined to undertake. But in certain, and perhaps the 
most important respects, it admits of a satisfactory an- 
swer. The translators, from the prescribed or custom- 
ary and popular course of theological study and opinion, 
which aimed to avoid, with the arrogant assumptions 
and pretensions of Romanism, the gentile heresies of the 
whole Papal history, were led to entertain an overween- 
ing and ill-founded confidence in the modern Jews as 
interpreters of their own Scriptures ; that is, of the Jewish 
authors who flourished, and whose works were published, 
after the establishment of Papal domination and intol- 
erance, and of Mohammedan ravage and proscription. 
That school of Jewish authors was not only more modern, 
but widely different in respect to their theological doc- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 169 

trines from the Chaldee paraphrasts, especially in regard 
to the Messiah ; and may be comprehensively described 
as including the Talmudists, the Masoretic doctors, and 
their rabbinical disciples and followers of various names. 
The productions of these Jewish authors were numerous 
and readily accessible at the period of the revival of 
learning in Europe, and in the sixteenth century were 
brought into notice and favor especially by the elder 
Buxtorf, in connection with his edition of the Hebrew 
Bible, and his lexicons, grammar, and various works 
relating to Masoretic and rabbinical literature. He seems 
to have entered with enthusiasm into the study of this 
school of Jewish writers ; and, with respect at least to 
the later and best known portion of them, as the clue to 
their sentiments was furnished b}r their use of the Ma- 
soretic points, he embraced their system in that respect, 
and inculcated and defended the application of it to the 
text of the Hebrew Scriptures with earnestness, perse- 
verance, and success. His example was followed. The 
use of the points facilitated the study of the language ; 
and for that reason, as well as because they were sup- 
posed to be safe guides in respect to the reference and 
meaning of words, they became popular with the learned 
and with students. Instead of being regarded as having 
the effect of a translation and commentary, and thereby 
fastening <>n the text the constructions and opinions of 
their authors, whether erroneous orotherwise, they were 
regarded primarily in a grammatical point of view, and 
a-- indicating the** owela supposed to be proper to Hebrew 
words, in addition to the letters originally composing 
them. 

But this system of punctuation has unavoidably the 
ell'rri of a version or comment. Its office is essentially 
lli.'ii of .in exponent <>i' the constructions and opinions 



170 THE MESSIAH 

of its authors, and as such it can be no further correct 
and reliable than their theological, exegetical, and reli- 
gious doctrines, theories and sentiments were in accord- 
ance with the real meaning of the original text. It may 
often, and perhaps gcneralty where no doctrine or doubt- 
ful construction is concerned, have the effect to express 
that real meaning, and to that extent it might be harm- 
less, and, if not wholly useless, might be of equal value 
with a paraphrase to the same effect. But if the student 
adopts this system as a guide, he naturally relies on it 
as equally applicable to every portion of the sacred ora- 
cles, and, with as much confidence in one case as in 
another, adopts the construction which it indicates. 

An attempt to reform the reigning fashion of Hebrew 
study in relation to this subject would probably be as 
hopeful a task as an attempt to disabuse the minds of 
theologians and religious teachers of the empirical, fan- 
ciful, and puerile system of figurative exposition which 
was rendered popular by Origen, and has reigned tri- 
umphant from his to the present time ; being propagated 
from age to age by education, and by the example and 
influence of the learned. But, regarded in a merely his- 
torical point of view, there appears to be no room for 
doubt but that the Hebrew vowel points — closely and 
even bigotedly adhered to, as they are understood to have 
been, by the translators of the Scriptures into our own 
and other modern languages — had, extensively, a very 
ill effect upon the versions which they furnished. And 
to whatever extent this was true, it would naturally pre- 
vail, especially in relation to those passages concerning 
which the authors held erroneous opinions, and as to 
which, under the more than hereditary Jewish preju- 
dices occasioned by the persecutions and proscriptions 
to which they were subjected, they aimed to counteract 



IX MOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 171 

the tendency of the Chaldee versions, as well as " to root 
out," in the language of McCaul, the Christian inter- 
pretations of the Hebrew text. " The violent persecu- 
tions of the Crusaders," says that writer, "the jealousy 
excited by the Christian attempt upon the Holy Land, 
and the influence of the doctrine of the Mahometans, 
amongst whom they lived, produced a sensible change 
SB Jewish opinions and interpretations, which is plainly 
marked in Kimchi and other writers of the day, and 
without a knowledge of which the phenomena of mod- 
ern Judaism cannot be fully understood. Rashi, Aben- 
E/ra, aud Kimchi endeavored to get rid of the Christian 
interpretations, and Maimonides to root out the Christian 
doctrines which had descended from the ancient Jewish 
Qmrch." (Introduction to Kimchi) Yet this laborious 
Student of those authors and of the Talmud adhered as 
pertinaciously as they to the Masoretic points, and ap- 
parently without ever suspecting that their highest office 
and their necessary and principal effect was that of being 
the vehicle of a comment. Such is the force of educa- 
tion, literary discipline, example, and habit in generating 
fixed opinions. 

But let one deemed competent to judge and to speak 
u] .< -n this subject be referred to: 

"The Masoretic punctuation," says Bishop Lowth, 
"ly which the pronunciation of the language is given, 
the forms of the .-'Mia I parts of speech, the construction 
of the words, the distribution and limits of the sentences, 
and iIh- <■. .) 1 1 1< •* -t i< >i i of the several members, are fixed, 
is in eflfecl "// interjiretntion of the Hebrew text made by 
the Jewso/ late ages, probably not earlier than the eighth 
century, ana may be coi a their translation of the 

Old Testament. Where the words, unpointed, arc capable 
of various meanings, accordingly as they are variously 



172 THE MESSIAH 

pronounced and constructed, the Jews, by their pointing, 
Lave determined them to one meaning and construction , 
and the sense which they thus give is their sense of the 
passage, just as the rendering of a translator into an- 
other language is his sense ; that is, the sense in which 
in his opinion the original words are to be taken ; and 
it has no other authority than what arises from its being 
agreeable to the rules of just interpretation. But because 
in the languages of Europe the vowels are essential parts 
of written words, a notion was too hastily taken up 
by the learned at the revival of letters, when the ori- 
ginal Scriptures began to be more carefully examined, 
that the vowel points were necessary appendages of the 
Hebrew letters, and therefore coeval with them ; at least 
that they became absolutely necessary when the Hebrew 
was become a dead language, and must have been added 
by Ezra, who collected and formed the canon of the 
Old Testament, in regard to all the books of it in his 
time extant. On this supposition the points have been 
considered as part of the Hebrew text, and as giving the 
meaning of it on no less than Divine authority. Accord- 
ingly, our public translations in the modern tongues for 
the use of the Church among Protestants, and so like- 
wise the modern Latin translations, are for the most part 
close copies of the Hebrew pointed text, and are in re- 
ality only versions at second-hand, translations of the 
Jews' interpretation of the Old Testament." 

After conceding to this interpretation what he sup- 
poses it may justly claim, he adds that the modern trans- 
lators "would have made a much better use of it, and 
a greater progress in the explication of the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament, had they consulted it without abso- 
lutely submitting to its authority; had they considered 
it as an assistant, not as an infallible guide." Finally 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 173 

he compares the effect of this course to that of the Act 
of the Council of Trent in pronouncing the Vulgate to 
be of equal authority with the original Scriptures. (Dis- 
sertation preliminary to his Version of Isaiah.) 

Now to apply these observations to the case in hand. 
Our translators having been educated in the Jewish 
sense of the Hebrew Scriptures, and having studied the 
original with the points under the received and general 
impression that they were of equal authority with the 
text, of course proceeded with their translations under 
the influence of whatever erroneous constructions and 
opinions the Massorites and their disciples entertained. 
Those errors, therefore, which were predominant in the 
Jewish mind when the points were added to the text, 
and when the causes of prejudice and hostility against 
tin' Christian doctrines were universally and most vio- 
lently in operation, were perpetuated, both among Jews 
and Christians, by the use of those ingenious and plau- 
sible appendages ; and from that day to this, translators 
and expositors have fallen back upon them, and upon 
the awful petrifactions of Talmudical and rabbinical 
jargon, as guides to the meaning of the words of In- 
spiration. 

'I'lu- Jewish people, after their total defection to idol- 
atry, their exile in Babylon, and the cessation of pro- 
phetic gifts, having renounced idols and incurred the 
hatred and conterapl of idolaters, were, from their rest- 
■ ite of mind, their Internal divisions, feuds, and 
rivalships, and the exposures and vicissitudes of their 
external condition, peculiarly exposed to cardinal and 
sectarian errors. They had forsaken Jehovah, and no 
longer received any tokens of his presence and favor. 

Both priests and people, a faithful remnanl always ex- 
cepted, had rejected him as their mediatorial prophet, 



174 the -Messiah 

priest, and king, ami renounced their allegiance to him 
as their lawgiver and providential ruler and protector; 
and holding no longer the belief of a Divine mediator 
or of any mediation, they relapsed into that notion of 
the Unity which they still adhere to, and looked only 
for a temporal political Messiah. The fitful efforts at 
reformation which, under the influence of Ezra, Nehe- 
miah, and the latest prophets, appeared after the rebuild- 
ing of their temple, gave place to extremes of formalism, 
hypocrisy, and impiety. Their notions of the person, 
offices, prerogatives, incarnation and sacerdotal work 
of the Anointed One, were as unscriptural and baseless 
as those of more modern times. 

Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 
(Brown's version,) about the middle of the second cen- 
tuiy, thus refers to the Eabbins of that day, (sect. 68.) 
Trypho, in common, no doubt, with the Jews generally, 
held that there was no distinction of Persons in the God- 
head, and that there was no Divine Being, or Person, 
but the Father only ; and quoted, not the original He- 
brew of Scripture texts, but the glosses and false con- 
structions of the Rabbins, in support of his opinions. 
Justin replies: "If, therefore, I shall prove that this 
prophecy of Esaias was spoken of our Christ, and not of 
Hezekias, as you say, shall not I prevail upon you in 
this also to disbelieve your Rabbies, who assert that the 
translation which your seventy Elders made when they 
were with Ptolemy, King of Egypt, is in some places not 
true? for those places in the Scriptures which expressly 
contradict any foolish notion which they are fond of, 
they say are not so in the original ; and those places 
which they can twist and twine about so as to make 
them suit any human affairs, they say were not spoken 
of this Christ of ours, but of him whom they endeavor 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 175 

to wrest tliem to speak of. So they have taught you to 
wrest the passage now in dispute, saying that it was 
spoken of Hezekias ; upon which passage I will prove 
that they have fixed a wrong interpretation. But when 
we propose those Scriptures to them which I have already 
recited, and do expressly prove that Christ was to be 
exposed to sufferings, to be worshipped, and is God, 
they do indeed, being necessarily obliged thereto, own 
that they relate to Christ ; but they take upon them to 
assert that he was not the Christ, and say that there is 
one still to come, who is both to suffer, and to reign, 
and to be worshipped, and to be God." In sect. 71 he 
observes that the Rabbies "have erased out several 
whole periods from the Septuagint translation, in which 
xpressly foretold that he who was crucified was to 
be God and man, and to be crucified and to die ;" which 
erased passages he afterwards quotes. 

In the course of his argument he alleges and quotes 
from the Old Testament to show that the Christ is called 
God, Lord, Lord of Hosts, a King, the King of Israel, 
the King of Glory, Angel or Messenger, Man, Captain 
of the Host, &c. 

The efforts to impart correct instruction and revive 
the ancient faith by means of the Chaldee expositions, 
doubtless bad effect upon more or less of those who 
frequented the synagogues and the temple services ; but 
to the greal mass, bo far as can be judged from history, 
or from their sentiments and condition, at the period 
of the advent, they were of no avail. How natural, 
then, thai the successors of this party of Sadducean and 
Pharasaic infidelity, with the stimulus added by the con- 
version or ae they regarded it, the apostasy of many to 
the Christian faith, and the farther stimulus of Moham- 
medan and pseudo-Christian intolerance and pcrstru- 



176 THE MESSIAH 

tion, should do their utmost to conceal or extirpate from 
the Hebrew text all traces of the Christian doctrine! 

With reference to the subject now specially in hand, 
it may suffice to refer to a single instance of concealment 
and perversion which, though of earlier origin, as ap- 
pears from the Septuagint and the Vulgate, for aught 
that is perceived, was fastened upon the Hebrew text 
by the Masoretic punctuation, and was derived thence 
by our translators ; namely, that of the formula, M> laeh 
Jehovah, which, by the examples formerly adduced, the 
connections in which it occurs, the use of the terms in- 
terchangeably, and the testimony of the Evangelists, is 
shown to be a clear, unequivocal, and emphatic desig- 
nation of the official Person, Messiah, the Legate of the 
Father. But the school of Jews above referred to, of 
whom Kimchi may be taken as a representative, con- 
sider the person designated Melach in this formula "as 
nothing more than one of the many angels to whom he 
supposes that the governance and guidance of this lower 
world is committed." They did not regard the term 
Melach, when employed in this formula, as a name of 
office, signifying Messenger, but as a personal designa- 
tion, signifying Angel, an angel, one of the angels. 
The points accordingly are so adjusted as to require the 
rendering to be, an angel of the Lord, or the angel, un- 
derstood as one of the angels of the Lord. To gloss over 
the apparent identity, in some passages, of that angel 
with Jehovah, and the ascription of the same acts to each 
separately, they represent the angel as personating, and 
speaking in the name of, Jehovah ; and explain his call- 
ing himself the God of Beth-El as signifying no more 
than Jacob's calling a place El-Beth-El. 

Now it is apparent that our translators have in the 
instance under consideration given us, not the clear and 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 177 

definite import of the original text, but, closely adher- 
ing to the points and following the steps of their Kab- 
binical guides, have given at second-hand a version of 
their sense, " a translation of their interpretation." In 
every instance but one (Malachi iii.) in their translation 
of the word Melach, (except when applied to men,) the}*- 
employ the word Angel, a personal designation, not a 
name of office ; and in most cases, if not in all, the English 
reader must naturally suppose that the reference was 
merely to one of the many created beings called angels. 
Accordingly, though they sometimes say, the angel of 
the Lord, in other instances, where the original is the 
same, they say, an angel of the Lord, implying that they 
did not uniformly refer to the same Person, nor in any 
case to any other than a created angel. The same thing 
is further illustrated and confirmed by their grammatical 
construction of the formula in accordance with the points, 
rendering it uniformly, the angel, or an angel of the 
Lord, or of God. For instance, in Judges, chap. ii. 1, in 
the original, Melach Jehovah came up from Gilgal to 
Bochirn, is translated, "a?i angel of the Lord came up," 
&c. So in chap. vi. 11 of the same book, Melach Jehovah 
is rendered, an angel of the Lord ; and in the next verse 

ne formula is rendered, the angel of the Lord ; and 
three times in the 20th and 21st verses, the angel; and 
twice ia the 22d verse, an angel. In all these cases, and 
many others like them, it is demonstrable from the con- 

lal one and the same person is referred to; that 
the same acts are ascribed to him and to Jehovah, and 
thai the formula by which he is designated Is employed 
interchangeably with the names Jehovah and Elohim. 
Yet, Looking no farther than the sentences which an- 
nounce the actor or speaker as an angel, neither collating 

entences with others in the same or other chap- 

8* 



178 THE MESSIAH 

ters, nor being able, if he did, to explain or reconcile the 
various and discordant renderings, the reader is left in 
doubt and perplexity, or else concludes that a created 
angel is referred to. 

Had the translators in this and other cases of the kind 
taken the unpointed Hebrew text as their guide, com- 
pared all its parallel passages, and understood the word 
Melach according to its original and primary meaning, 
and its specific and necessary import where joined with 
the Divine names, as in the formulas above-mentioned, 
to be a name of office, signifying Messenger, Legate, one 
delegated, sent ; who can doubt but that they would 
have discerned in the designation an unmistakable re- 
ference to the Messiah ; that they would have retained 
the original Hebrew formulas, or translated them intel- 
ligibly and uniformly, and left their readers in no per- 
plexity as to their sentiments or the meaning of their 
version ? 

The word Melach first occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures, 
Gren. xvi., where it is employed in its primar}^ significa- 
tion, and occurs four times in the formula Melach Jehovah, 
clearly designating the official Person, Jehovah, in his 
delegated character — the Anointed and Sent of the Fa- 
ther, The Messenger Jehovah. In the original there is 
uniformity, consistency, and perfect freedom from am- 
biguity and uncertainty in the use of this term as an 
official designation, here and wherever it occurs through- 
out the Scriptures. There is no mistaking it if regarded 
in its grammatical relation with the Divine names, and 
its connection with the context, independently of the 
points and of the hereditary Jewish construction ; and 
had the translators so regarded it, and in their version 
employed the term Messenger instead of Angel, it would 
have been as clearly understood to designate the official 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 179 

Person as if they had substituted or added the term 
Messiah. 

Subsequently, this name of office was applied to cre- 
ated angels and to men employed, and because they were 
employed, as messengers ; and it finally came to be used 
as a personal appellative. The first instance of this 
occurs Gen. xix. 1 : " There came two angels to Sodom," 
that is, two messengers ; two who were sent by Jehovah 
while he was present with Abraham in the visible form 
of man. And chap, xxxii. 3, 6 : " Jacob sent messengers 
before him to Esau. . . . And the messengers returned 
to Jacob ;" that is, he sent two of his servants with a 
message. But in the original, the word translated angels 
in chap, xix., and messengers in chap, xxxii., is the 
same, and differs from that in chap. xvi. and all the 
parallel passages translated angel, only by being in the 
plural form. 

This term Melach, as an official designation of Jeho-. 
vah, including the instances in which it is coupled with 
the name Elohim, occurs more than twenty times in the 
books of Moses, and more than twice that number of 
times in the later Hebrew Scriptures ; and considering 
that it is often employed interchangeably with the names 
Jehovah and Elohim ; that the same acts, revelations, 
promises, covenants, and predictions, are in the same or 
in differenl paE -ages ascribed indifferently to Jehovah, 
Kluliiin, and the Messenger Jehovah ; and that in the 
\. .. Testament, both in references to the Old and in 
original revelations and announcements, the same acts, 
promises, &c., are ascribed to the Logos or personal 
"Word under that and other designations; it is manifest 
that, bad OUT translators rightly apprehended the import 
and reference of the designation, and represented it in 
their version by a term as guarded, unequivocal, and 



180 THE MESSIAH 

distinctive as the original, their readers would be at no 
loss as to how or in what relations Moses wrote of Christ. 

But their misguided and erroneous apprehensions and 
renderings of this official designation are scarcely more 
remarkable than the like proceedings on their part in 
reference to several other peculiar or official Hebrew 
itions of the Messiah, which occur both in Moses 
and the prophets ; their inadequate and uncertain or 
erroneous versions of which are no doubt to be ascribed 
to their concurrence with the Jewish expositions and 
with the requirements of the vowel points. And with- 
out imputing any other than honest intentions, or doing 
any injustice to the translators, but only allowing for 
the effect of their theological education, and for the ar- 
bitrary and controlling influence of the guides which 
they thought it safe to follow, and which, from their 
own convictions and the ascendant notions of the times, 
they were in effect necessitated to adopt, it may safely bo 
alleged that, with respect to the great Actor and Reveal 
er, the pervading theme of Moses and the prophets, they 
have in numerous instances Avholly failed, and in their 
version, as a whole, but partially succeeded, in exhibiting 
the designations and references of the original. 

That their version, as a whole, is superior to any of the 
other modern versions, is generally admitted ; that it ex- 
hibits the historical narratives, and those doctrinal state- 
ments which do not immediately relate to the official 
Person, with a fidelity and an intelligibleness scarcely 
indeed to be avoided by able and honest men, but which 
such men at the present day would not be likely to excel, 
is justly to be acknowledged ; but in regard to the per- 
sonal designations, ascriptions and references alluded to, 
their guides subjected their intentions to an erroneous 
theory. 



IX MOSES AUD THE PEOPHETS. 181 

The ill consequences to the English reader, so far as 
the doctrines essential to his salvation are concerned, are 
counteracted by the record of the visible appearance of 
the official Person incarnate, the historical narratives of 
hi.s acts, his expiatory death, his resurrection and ascen- 
sion, and the doctrinal revelations and apostolic testi- 
monies of the New Testament ; and he is far too easily 
led to regard the Divine oracles as of little significance 
or importance, except in so far as they specially teach 
those essential doctrines. In this partial view of their 
import and design, the Old Testament is lightly esteemed 
or disregarded with respect to the far greater part of its 
contents, by those who most highly esteem the New, 
and with respect to the whole of its contents, by many. 
It is not recognized as a continuous record of personal 
Divine manifestations, visible appearances, supernatural 
acts, audible enunciations; a record of the creation, 
of the apostasy and its consequences, of the adminis- 
tration of providence and grace, and of visible inter- 
positions and retributions towards individuals, families, 
and nations ; a progressive disclosure of the attributes, 
prerogatives, and purposes of the Self-existent, of his 
acts as Lawgiver and Ruler, and of his supremacy, 
majesty and glory, whereby He who personally ap- 
peared and acted under the ancient dispensations, and 
a1 length became incarnate, revealed himself in his 
ted relations as truly to the universe of the un- 
fallcn as to man, and as truly with reference to results 
yet future as to those incipienl events in which were 
laid the foundations of his onward, universal, and never- 
ending Bystem of manifestations and agencies, and in 
the progress of which all the wonders of mercy and 
justice, all the retributions of time and awards of eter- 
nity, all the paradoxes and mysteries of the past, and 



182 THE MESSIAH 

their relations to the future, are to be disclosed, vindi- 
cated, and rendered luminous to the apprehension of 
intelligent creatures. The eternal purposes which were 
purposed in him before the foundation of the world, 
and the sequel of the covenants, prescriptions, promises, 
comminations, symbols, and predictions which, in 
connection with the first of their respective series of 
events, were announced to the patriarchs and prophets, 
await the future for their ever-widening range of illus- 
tration and accomplishment. The scene is but begun. 
The first steps only of an endless progress, the first 
events only of a continuous, inseparable, and endless 
series, the first disclosures only of a boundless range of 
development by the same divine Actor and Eevealer, 
have yet transpired. The earth as his footstool is yet 
to be the scene of the restitution of all things. His 
early footsteps on it are to be retraced in a renewed 
paradise, and the visible manifestations of the past to 
be resumed, when all that is recorded of Him in his 
offices and his administration, and his intercourse with 
the first Adam, and with the patriarchs and prophets, 
will be understood and heeded as of the scheme and 
fabric of his glory. 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 183 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Contiauation of the subject of the preceding Chapter — Combined influ- 
ence of Rabbinical and figurative Interpretations — German method of 
Hebrew study — Preposterous notion of the inadequacy of Language 
as a vehicle of Thought. 

There is a view of the ill effects of the combined 
influence of the education and Rabbinical example and 
prescription under which our translation was produced, 
which would confirm the foregoing observations, were 
it competently traced in connection with the no less 
imposing and effective influence of the system of alle- 
gorical, mystical, and figurative interpretation which 
prevailed from and after the days of Origen. Had our 
translators not been spell-bound by the influence first 
above-mentioned, they would have been impelled by 
their Protestantism, their piety, and their good sense, to 
discard the latter. Had they discerned the real mean- 
ing, official reference, and literal import of the designa- 
tions above considered, and of the references, manifesta- 
and acts ascribed in connection with them to the 
Messiah, and recognized him as the One often visible 
and always acting Administrator and Revealer, they 
could not have failed to give a translation with which 
allegorical, mystical or tropical interpretations of the 
literal language of the historical, and the literal an- 
nouncements of the prophetic portions of the Scrip- 
would have been palpably incongruous and 
inadmissible. But the one influence, by keeping the 
Messiah personally, and in respect to his offices and 
agency, out of sight, or as nearly so as possible, was not 



184 THE MESSIAH 

repugnant to the other system, which contemplated 
Him only as foreshadowed by types and figures, pro- 
phetic symbols and mystical allusions, as though the 
first manifestation of his official agency was not in- 
tended to occur till his incarnation. 

Unlike the fixed and imperative rules which governed 
the use of the Masoretic points, this figurative system 
was subject to no conditions or restraints other than such 
as might exist in the imaginations of individuals. It 
furnished no just discrimination or definition of the 
different figures of speech, of their object, or of their 
legitimate use, nor pretended to give a reason why any 
word was in any given case said to be used figuratively, 
or to have a figurative instead of a literal import. It 
neither descended to such particulars, nor was in any 
way dependent on them. The fact that every word in 
a given sentence was employed by the writer in the 
most strictly literal sense, was no sign that it must of 
course be construed literally, nor hindrance of Origen or 
his followers, orthodox or Swedenborgian, down to the 
present day, from giving the whole or any portion of it 
a figurative meaning, and, maugre its obvious literal 
import, making it refer to something or any thing, past, 
present, or future, which the fancy of the expositor 
might suggest. 

Under this system, it is easy to see how the literal 
designations and literal statements of the Old Testa- 
ment relating to the Messiah, the visible appearances, 
special interpositions, and various acts ascribed to him; 
and the literal announcements of the prophecies con- 
cerning his yet future manifestations, the descendants 
of his ancient covenant people, Jerusalem, the mil- 
lennium, &c., &c, may be obscured, mystified, miscon- 
strued, or wholly explained away. 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 185 

Under the hitherto unrestrained predominance of 
these two fountains of influence, the current of Hebrew 
learning has for the most part been restricted to the 
grammatical study of the text and its real or fancied 
difficulties and defects. The Germans, who lead the 
way, set out with the assumption that the student is to 
regard the Bible as differing in no respect from other 
books. He is to take it in hand just as he would if he 
had never heard of its claim of inspiration or of Divine 
authority, of the attributes and perfections of its Author, 
of his works of creation and providence, or any thing 
of the religion which it teaches. With no guiding 
theory of the great scheme of the Creator and Euler of 
the world, and of his method of carrying it into effect; 
with no conviction that in a volume inspired bj~ Him, 
that scheme and method must constitute the leading 
and pervading theme, and be so prominent as to render 
the petty difficulties and obscurities he may meet with 
of no account; they seem to enter upon the study as we 
may suppose one of the natives of our ancient forests, 
with no other knowledge of art than was required in 
the construction of his cabin, would enter upon the 
lask of learning the architectural theory which go- 
verned tin- construction of an immense and complicated 
edifice, with the objects and uses of the whole and of 
each constituenl part, by examining separately and in 
detail duplicates of each particular brick, stone, timber, 
nail, hinge, clamp, latch, and every other material and 
element of the finished structure. After wearyinghim- 
self with this undertaking, he would 1"' ap1 either to 
abandon it, contenl with whal lie had learned of the 
disconnected elementary materials, or to form mi erro- 
theory of their relations and uses, if united in 
conformity with the model ; or else to conclude, despite 



186 THE MESSIAH 

the model before him, that the separate pieces could not 
be combined in one harmonious whole; that no theory 
would account for such a result, and that all that could 
be done was to study them sejjaratcly, ascertain their 
separate uses, and discover their defects; that though, 
to superficial observers, apparentby united in the stately 
edifice, they were not really united, but were of diverse 
natures and different ages, fashioned and added by 
many different builders at widely distant periods; and 
that the structure was but a mass of patchwork, the 
result of what the successive builders added to the work 
of their predecessors, each bringing his own peculiar 
materials, and pursuing the style of architecture preva- 
lent in his own day ; and therefore to comprehend it 
the student must take the portion of each builder se- 
parately, and make it his object to investigate and 
criticize the materials and style employed by him, com- 
pare each with all the others, enumerate their defects, 
and in the end show that, viewed collectively, the whole 
is but a mass of discordant materials, clumsily arranged, 
with innumerable defects, inconsistencies, superfluities, 
erroneous combinations, and objects as diverse and 
various as the capacities, tastes, and circumstances of 
the several builders. 

If this, as an illustration of the modern German 
method of studying the Hebrew Scriptures, is in any 
degree exaggerated, it is yet probably exact enough to 
account for the worse than Kabbinical, worse than 
Popish, worse than Mohammedan results — ideological in- 
fidelity, both with respect to the Old and the New Tes- 
taments, and atheism with respect to their Author. 
Doubtless there are exceptions — here and there a Lot 
escaping for his life from this critical Sodom. The 
reference is to the general and notorious results. 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. i87 

The system virtually begins with a denial of the L .vine 
origin and authority of the Scriptures, and a degrada- 
tion of them to the level of the works of heathen 
authors ; and as a system, pursued under the influences 
above referred to, is no better calculated to lead the 
student to a right apprehension and knowledge of the 
great theme and connected chain of things revealed, 
than the study of insects, under the name of the science 
of entomology, is calculated to enable the student to 
conceive, understand, and comprehend the doctrines of 
the Newtonian philosophy. 

Among the results of this course of things, it is ob- 
vious to notice the wide-spread, notorious, and effective 
sentiment of doubt and uncertainty as to the claims of 
the Scriptures in respect to the most important facts 
and doctrines, among the learned, scientific and profes- 
sional men extensively on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Hence the origin, popularity, and influence of the geo- 
logical doctrines concerning the antiquity of the earth, 
successive creations or developments, diversity of origin 
of different families of the human race, and various kin- 
dred matters. The excited minds of scientific men, un- 
satisfied, unestablished, and misled by the results of Rab- 
binical and neological study and criticism, have appealed 
from the Scripture records to the fossil relics of what 
tiny fancy to have been a world of immeasurably higher 
antiquity than that <>{' whose creation Moses is the his- 
torian. They seek there, and imagine thai they discover, 
engraven on the rocks, an earlier revelation, a more 
correcl chronology, a higher and more intelligible 
theory of the origin, progress, uses, and c>nds of the 
earth, its changes, and its families of rational and irra- 
tional inhabitants. And finally the better portion of 
this great school, as the only means left of guarding the 



188 THE MESSIAH 

rising generation from blank atheism, recommend the 
institution of professorships of Natural Theology, that, 
by a due exhibition to them of the evidences of geo- 
logical and other natural sciences, they may, if possible, 
be convinced that there is a God ! 

Another result is obvious in the still more extended 
influence among all classes, learned, religious, ignorant 
and skeptical, of the discovery — made, probably, or 
adopted, alike by the Talmudists and Origen, though 
not openly professed as a clue to their productions — 
that language is a very inadequate, imperfect, indeter- 
minate vehicle of thought; an uncertain, incompetent, 
unreliable means of expressing men's ideas. The in- 
cautious, half demented inheritors of this discovery, 
however, apprehending, in the present condition of things, 
no danger of injury to their intellectual, professional, lite- 
rary or religious reputation, proclaim it as boldly and 
unreservedly as if it were universally admitted and con- 
firmed by universal experience. Out of charity or out 
of hypocrisy towards their readers, indeed, or because 
they consider themselves exceptions to a general rule, 
applicable, in their view, even to the penmen of the 
sacred writings, they directly profess and apply this 
fancied discovery only in relation to the language of 
Scripture and to that of orthodox creeds and confessions. 
In this they feel secure of the acquiescence of the great 
majority of all descriptions, and, but for their heresies 
in other relations, and having other bearings, would feel 
in other respects, as well as in this, secure of the learned 
mining the orthodox. 

It is obvious how, by this device, the Arch-enemy 
wins and secures his prey among those who have the 
oracles of God; as of old among the heathen by hi-; 
own oracles, the responses from which were ever capa 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 189 



ing party might adopt the one most agreeable to his 
wishes, feelings, and emotions. 



chaptp:r xvii. 

Relation of the antagonism between the Messiah and the great Adver- 
sary to the local, personal, and visible Manifestations of the former — 
Modes of Visibility on the part of the latter, through human agents 
and various instrumentalities. 

The antagonism between the Messiah and the great 
Adversary, which, in the Scriptures, is conspicuous in 
all that relates to idolatry and other principal forms of 
impiety, and the means employed to counteract and 
punish them, strongly implies and confirms the reality 
and visibility of the local personal appearances and acts 
recorded of the delegated Person. The scene of that 
antagonism was on the earth. It involved an abiding- 
enmity and active hostility between the followers of the 
respective leaders, separated the descendants of Adam 
into two bostile parties, and was carried on bymeans of 
their visible agency in all the forms in which they could 
express their inward sentiments, and in all the relations 
they sustained to the Divine Lawgiver, to the Arch- 
apostate, and to one another. In so far, then, as their 
id doings were visible in carrying on this war- 
fa)-, it was requisite that the means of opposing, coun- 
teracting and condemning them should be visibly ex- 
hibited, thai they might be observed, rightly judged 0$ 
and productive of appropriate moral effects. 



190 THE MESSIAH 

But granting this to be apparent from the nature of 
the case, so far as concerns the agency of righteous men 
on one side, and that of wicked men on the other; it may 
at first be thought not to require any visible manifesta- 
tions or acts of the Divine leader of the righteous, any 
more than of the apostate leader of the wicked. The 
sequel may show that such visibility in respect to both 
was exhibited; by the one, to whom it occasioned no 
difficult in any respect, in whatever mode, and to what- 
ever extent he pleased ; by the other, in whatever ways 
it was possible for him to render himself visible, by 
subjecting the bodies of men or of inferior animals to 
his possession and control, and through their physical 
organs acting and speaking, and thereby giving visi- 
bility to his acts and audible utterance, to his words ; or 
by counterfeit apparitions, and by such arts and jug- 
glery as his followers, the magicians of Egypt and else. 
where, practised with such success as to render their 
apparent acts undistinguishable from real ones. 

That he had the power of occupying and actuating 
the bodies of men and of inferior animals, is shown by 
what is recorded of him and of the demons under him, 
in the New Testament; and it is very evident from 
what was said by the Jews on various occasions, that 
such possessions were no matter of surprise or doubt; and 
that they w.ell understood that it was Satan, Baal-Zebub, 
the prince of the demons, that was cast out by the power 
of Christ, is evident from his question when answering 
them on one occasion, " How can Satan cast out Satan?" 

In that which, from the events in Eden to the day of 
Pentecost, was remarkable as a dispensation of visible 
agencies and results, visible teachings, rites, ordinances, 
institutions, mercies and judgments, manifestations and 
events, the Adversary carried on his system of hostility 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 191 

and rivalry by visible agents and instruments, as will 
be illustrated with reference to the all but universal 
system of idolatry of which he was the head under the 
name of Baal, and in which he was represented by visi- 
ble images without number, and had innumerable priests 
and counterfeits of all the visible accompaniments of the 
system prescribed for the worship of Jehovah. 

In the progress of that dispensation it is observable, 
not only that the Divine Messenger appeared in the 
visible likeness, and, at its close, in the nature of man, 
but also that created spiritual beings, angels, appeared 
visibly from time to time, and at the advent, resurrec- 
tion and ascension of Christ. The power of rendering 
themselves visible, if it resided in the unfallen angels, 
and was a condition of their nature, is likely to have 
been retained and exercised by the fallen. And if— as 
hypocrites, by their outward and visible acts, make 
themselves appear to be honest and true — Satan can 
deceive by assuming the appearance of an angel of light, 
he is likely to have exercised that power in every way 
possible to him and conducive to his ends. Possessing 
capacities little conceived of or comprehended by mor- 
tals; capacities indicated by the attitude of opposition 
and rivalship which he assumed towards his Creator 
and rightful Sovereign, the omnipotent and omniscient 
One; by the boldness and perseverance of his rebellion, 
the vastne8S of the results which he accomplished in the 
seduction of his celestial followers, and the ruin of this 
world; the indescribable audacity of his personal en- 
counter in the wilderness with the incarnate "Word, and 
til] more amazing desperateness of the conflicts 
predicted iu the Apocalypse; who can doubt but that he 
bad al all times ways and means of. rendering his agency 
visible, directly ami l.v instruments at his command? 



102 TI1E MESSIAH 

It is plain, from the narrative of the temptation in 
the wilderness, that he was locally present, and in a 
way implying relations to physical things analogous to 
those of men ; to the atmosphere, as the medium of sound 
and of vision ; to the earth, as a basis of locomotion ; 
that he uttered words and exerted physical power. So 
in the narrative of Job, and that of the scene in Pa- 
radise, to specify no others, such physical and visible 
acts are ascribed to him as plainly as acts visibly of a 
similar nature are affirmed of the two angels who, with 
Jehovah, came to Abraham in the form of men, par- 
took as men of his repast, and at parting from Jehovah 
and Abraham, "turned their faces and went towards 
Sodom." 

His policy as a deceiver would have been defeated, 
had he stood forth manifest in such, form to mortal 
eyes as clearly to identify him, and expose his malig- 
nity and betray his evil designs towards the human 
race, while yet in a state of probation with reference to 
their repentance and salvation. He succeeded with 
them, for the most part, by subtlety, craft, falsehood 
exhibiting counterfeit resemblances of goodness, and 
working through visible agents actuated by him, and 
instrumentalities which served as screens. Thus, in the 
first temptation, having no alternative prior to the fall, he 
actuated an irrational creature, erect, perhaps, originally, 
in form, and otherwise preeminently adapted to his pur- 
pose, but afterwards by the curse (denounced on the 
visible agent as an intelligent person, in whom the 
fallen spirit and the animal were united as by a mock 
incarnation) degraded to crawl upon the ground, and 
called the serpent; while the actuating intelligent 
agent was forewarned of the enmity and prolonged 
hostility which would ensue between him and his fol- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 198 

lowers and the race which he had seduced. The nar- 
rative, 1 Bangs xxii. 19 — 23, shows that Satan could 
inspire false prophets, sorcerers and magicians ; and the 
exercise of that power is doubtless to be supposed in 
respect to all those who are called false prophets, sor- 
cerers, diviners, &c. ; those who inquired of Baal-Zebub, 
or consulted any of the oracles of the idolatrous party. 
There are in the annals of sorcery and witchcraft 
innumerable illustrations of the agency, pretensions 
and purposes of the Evil One in securing the homage 
of men, and employing them as instruments of his 
antagonism. The following notices are taken from 
" Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, from the most 
authentic sources. By Thomas Wright, M. A., F. S. A." 
This work relates chiefly to the sentiments, practices, 
judicial trials, confessions and executions of sorcerers 
and magicians, in the thirteenth and four ensuing cen- 
turies, in England, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, 
and other countries of Europe. A belief in sorcery, as 
a kind of supernatural agency, was then universally 
prevalent, and was manifested in two different forms, 
sorcery and magic. " The magician differed from the 
witch in this: that while the latter was an ignorant in- 
strument in the hands of the demons, the former had 
become their master by the powerful intermediation of 

bich was only within the reach of a few, and 
which these beings were unable to disobey." Of this 
science there were several schools in Europe. The 
professed objeel of those who studied it was to acquire 
the power of coercing the Evil One. In practice, the 

tempted by ambition, avarice, or some other 
passion, generally made "the final sacrifice," that is, 
formally sold their souls to Satan. Thus, in the tenth 

9 



194 THE MESSIAH 

century, " Gerbert is said to have sold himself, on con- 
dition of being made a pope." 

"The witch held a lower degree in the scale of for- 
bidden knowledge. She was a slave without recom- 
pense ; she had sold herself without any apparent 
object, unless it were the mere power of doing evil." 
" It has been an article of popular belief, from the 
earliest period of the history of the nations of western 
Europe, that women were more easily brought into 
connection with the spiritual world than men ; priest- 
esses were the favorite agents of the deities of the ages 
of paganism. During the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies, the power of the witches to do mischief was 
derived from a direct compact with the Demon, [Devil,] 
whom they were bound to worship with certain rites 
and ceremonies, the shadows of those which had, in 
remoter ages, been performed in honor of the pagan 
gods." In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, " the 
witches met together by night, in solitary places, to 
worship their master, who appeared to them in the 
shape of a cat or a goat, or sometimes in that of a 
man. At these meetings they had feasts, and some 
were appointed to serve at table, while others received 
reward or punishment, according to their zeal in the 
service of the Evil One. Hither also they brought 
children which they had stolen from their cradles, and 
which were sometimes torn to pieces and devoured. 
We see here the first outlines of the witches' ' Sabbath' 
of a later age." 

In the progress of the narratives there are abundant 
testimonies to the following opinions and practices : 

1. That it was Satan, the arch-apostate, personally, 
with whom they entered into compact ; selling to him 



EN" MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 195 

their souls for a consideration, and covenanting to wor- 
ship and serve him, and to renounce Christ and blas- 
pheme his name. 

Thus, in the confession of a Dr. Fian, of Scotland, of 
"the origin of his acquaintance with the Devil," while 
meditating how he should be revenged of his landlord, 
" The- Devil suddenly made his appearance, clad in white 
raiment, and said to him, ' Will ye be my servant, and 
adore me, and ye shall never want?' The Doctor assented 
to the terms, and, at the suggestion of the Evil One, 
revenged himself." And in that of Ganfridi, a French 
Catholic priest : " The Demon appeared to him in a 
human form, and said to him, '"What do you desire of 
me?'" After stating what he wanted, "the Demon pro- 
mised to grant him his desires, on condition that he 
would give up to him entirely his 'body, soul, and 
works ;' to which he agreed," excepting only what related 
to his performing the sacraments as a priest. 

2. They had what they termed " Sabbaths," when they 
met for the worship of Satan ; and also periodical feasts, 
appointed on days set apart for festivals of the Romish 
Church. 

Ganfridi, the priest above mentioned, "gave an ac- 
count of the Sabbaths, at which he was a regular attend- 
ant. When he was ready to go — it was usually at 
oighl — he either went to the open window of his chamber, 
or proceeded through, the door into the open air. There 
Lmcifer made his appearance, and took him in an instant 
to their place of meeting, where the orgies of the witches 
and sorcerers lasted usually from three to four hours. 
Ganfridi divided the victims of the Evil One into three 
: tl;p novices, the sorcerers, and the magicians. 
On arriving at the meeting, they all worshipped the 
Demon, according to their several ranks; the novices 



196 THE MESSIAH 

falling flat on their faces, the sorcerers kneeling with 
their heads and bodies humbly bowed down, and the 
magicians, who stood highest in importance, only kneels 
ing. After this they all went through the formality of 
denying God and the saints. Then they had a diaboli- 
cal service in burlesque of that of the Church, at which 
the Evil One served as priest in a violet chasuble ; the 
elevation of the demon host was announced by a wooden 
bell, and the sacrament itself was made of unleavened 
bread. The scenes of unutterable licentiousness which 
followed, resembled those of other witch meetings." 

In the early part of the seventeenth century, in La- 
bourd, at the south-west corner of France, nearly all the 
families of a population of thirty thousand were subjects 
of sorcery. At their "Sabbaths," which were numerously 
attended every Wednesday and Friday night, "Satan, 
seated on a throne, appeared in the shape of a large 
black man with horns, and sometimes in other forms. 
The ceremonies of worship, the feasting, the dance, and 
the license which followed, are described in all their 
particulars, in a multitude of confessions." 

In Navarre, the delusion was no less prevalent. The 
ordinary Sabbaths were held every Monday, Wednes- 
day, and Friday evening. " The form assumed by the 
Demon was that of a man with a sad and choleric coun- 
tenance, very black and very ugly. He was seated on 
a lofty throne, black as ebony, and sometimes gilt, with 
all the accessories calculated to inspire reverence. On his 
head was a crown of small horns, with two larger ones 
behind, and another larger one on the forehead. It was 
the latter which gave a light somewhat greater than 
that of the moon, but less than that of the pin, which 
served to illumine the assembly. His eyes were large 
and round, and terrible to look at ; his beard like that 



IN MOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 197 

of a goat, and the lower part of his body had the form 
of that animal, &c. His worship was conducted with 
the same forms and ceremonies as in Labourd. After 
the worship of the Demon followed a travestie of the 
Christian mass ; after the mass, the usual licentiousness, 
then the feast. Before they left, the Demon preached 
to them on the duties they had contracted towards him, 
exhorted them to go and injure their fellow-creatures, and 
to practise every kind of wickedness, and gave them 
powders and liquors for poisoning and destroying. He 
often accompanied them himself when some great evil 
was i" be done." 

3. In the confessions of those who were tried and 

ted, it is related in numerous instances that they 
had, on their first admission at the Sabbath rites and 
orgies, formally renounced Christ, and uttered blasphem- 
pressions. It was an article of their compact that 
lould not, at any of their assemblies, mention the 
name- of Christ; (an interdict similar to that of the 
Yezzidis, or worshippers of Satan, near Mosul, men- 
tioned by M. Layard ;) and it is affirmed that whenever 
his name was inadvertently articulated, the assembly 
instantly dispersed. 

4. It was held that the initiated received from the 
Evil One a particular mark on their persons, to distin- 
guish them as his; thai Satan often appeared to them 
unexpectedly in the form <>f a goat, a black dog, a 
cat, :i horse, or a toad; and that each new witch re- 
oeived a toad, cat, or other animal, as an imp or familiar 

ad them constantly. They pretended to raise 
Btorms, dest] i crops, torment and kill 

animals ami men by their sorcery; and for such crimes 
many thousands of them were accused, tried, and put 
to death. 



198 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER XVIIL 



Illustration of the subject of the last Chapter, exhibiting the Antago- 
nism as carried on by visible agencies, instrumentalities, and events, 
in the plagues of Egypt and at the Red Sea. 

There is a striking instance of this antagonism 
carried on by visible agencies, instrumentalities, and 
events, in the narrative of the plagues of Egypt, under 
the immediate direction of the Messenger Jehovah, 
after his appearance to Moses in the burning bush ; of 
which plagues it was repeatedly declared to be the 
object on the one hand to convince the children of 
Israel, and by rehearsal to their descendants to con- 
vince them that he was indeed Jehovah ; and on the 
other, to cause Pharaoh and the Egyptians to know 
that he was the Self-existent, and to cause his name to 
be declared throughout all the earth. Pharaoh, and 
the priests of Baal, and the wise men, the sorcerers 
and magicians, like Ahab and the prophets and vo- 
taries of Baal in his time; and Nebuchadnezzar and 
the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans 
of his, were to witness miraculous and resistless proofs 
that Jehovah, the Elohe of Abraham and Israel, was 
the only living and true God, the Creator, proprietor, 
and ruler of the world, and that their idolatry was an 
imposture and a cheat. In this, as in the other and 
all similar instances of a public formal conflict of the 
great antagonists and their agents, to determine which 
should be acknowledged as supreme, and be obeyed and 
worshipped, the demonstrations on the part of Jehovah 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 199 

were resisted, step by step, by the Adversary and his 
party, till they were overpowered, shown to be false 
pretenders, terrified, exposed, and confounded. 

Jehovah directed Moses and Aaron, when they ap- 
peared before Pharaoh, and were required by him " to 
show a miracle" in support of their pretensions, to cast 
down the rod they were to carry, and it should become 
a serpent — the animal with which the name and per- 
sonal history of Satan were intimately associated, and 
whose visible form was familiar among the material 
images, representative of him under the name of Baal, 
from the earliest times ; the animal which he entered 
and actuated in Eden, and which, doubtless, he could 
enter and actuate again, and by jugglery employ rods 
in his exhibition. "And Aaron cast down his rod 
before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became 
a serpent;" as much as to say, Here is a miracle, pro- 
ducing before your eyes the god, the visible image and 
representative of the god whom you worship. But 
we may suppose Pharaoh to have said, This we can do : 
this only shows the power of our god, and is to no 
purpose as evidence on your side. " Then Pharaoh 
called the wise men and the sorcerers, and the ma- 
giciana of Egypt did in like manner with their 
fitments; for they cast down every man his rod, 
and they became serpents." This satisfied him. Simi- 
lar feats had probably often satisfied him before. 
effects of power in the production, apparently, 
of living animals, were manifest to his senses. The 
Bequel, In the fact that "Aaron's rod swallowed up 
their rods," belonged to another category. If he re- 
garded it as the moderns regard written language, he 
would be satisfied by calling it "figurative," or saying 



200 



THE MESSIAH 



it was equivocal, and had no fixed or determinate 
meaning. 

The nature of the conflict, and the visibility of the 
instruments and results, arc thus sufficiently apparent. 
To the view of the beholders, the coincidence of the 
power of the unseen agent on the one side, with the 
act of Aaron and his rod as an instrument ; and on the 
other, with the acts of the magicians and their rods, 
appeared alike. From aught that was apparent, if 
Moses and Aaron wrought their miracle by the power 
and will of Jehovah, the magicians wrought theirs by 
the power and will of their god. It was a miracle 
transcending the efforts of mortal power, and superior 
to that by which the magicians acted, that Pharaoh 
required. Nothing else would meet the case. But as 
he viewed it, this experiment was not conclusive. 

At the next trial, Aaron, in the presence of Pharaoh 
and his servants, "lifted up the rod and smote the 
waters that were in the river, and they were turned 
into blood." The fish died, "and there was blood 
throughout all the land of Egypt." "And the magicians 
did so with their enchantments, and Pharaoh's heart 
was hardened." The experiment of the magicians, in 
this case, must have been on a very limited scale, for 
it appears from the narrative that there was no Avater 
to be had for seven days, but such as was obtained 
by digging near the river. Still, if they apparently 
produced the effect on ever so small a quantity, those 
who trusted in them would be satisfied. The Nile was 
a leading object of Egyptian idolatry, as an instru- 
ment and emblem of the munificence of the god of 
that idolatry, whose superiority and power were 
argued from the vast benefits occasioned by the river, 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 201 

■without the aid or inconvenience of clouds and rain. 
The miracle was therefore a public and signal rebuke 
of their idolatry, affecting directly every inhabitant 
of the land, and a stupendous demonstration of the 
supremacy of Jehovah. But the arts and instrument- 
ality of the magicians counteracted its effect. 

The ensuing trial, which constituted the second 
plague, covered the land, the houses, furniture, utensils, 
and the people themselves, with myriads of loathsome 
frogs, one of the sacred animals of their idol system, 
and of the progeny of their sacred river, consecrated 
to the sun, and, by reason of its inflations, deemed an 
emblem of inspiration. They were thus confounded 
by the insupportable multitude and offensiveness of 
one of the objects of their idol worship, sent forth by 
another, as if purposely to punish them. After the 
usual announcements and directions, "Aaron stretched 
out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs 
came up and covered the land of Egypt: and the 
magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought 
up frogs upon the land of Egypt." Their enchant- 
ments in this case seem to have had no favorable effect. 
Thr frogs brought up by them must have aggravated 
the already intolerable evil. Pharaoh begged Moses to 
entreat Jehovah to remove the plague, and promised in 

ise to let the people go. Moses consented, so 
araoh,bythe counter miracle, "might know that 

is none Like unto Jehovah, the Elohe of the 
Hebre 

Tli'' third plague, more tormenting to the persons of 

vptians than ili<- preceding, baffled and silenced 
tli^ magicians. "Aaron stretched out his hand with 
his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became 
lice in man and in beast; and the dust of the land be- 



202 THE MESSIAH 

came lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the 
magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth 
lice, but they could not. Then the magicians said unto 
Pharaoh, This is the finger of Elohim." But his heart 
was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them. 

In the preceding instances, Pharaoh and the ma- 
gicians had been forewarned as to what kind of evil 
was to be inflicted, and had time to prepare their en- 
chantments. When (the sun excepted) the chief of all 
the natural objects of their idolatry was to be changed 
into blood, so as to destroy the fish, and put a stop to 
all the benefits for which they deified it, the miracle 
was in itself calculated to be perfectly conclusive, and 
Moses was directed to say to Pharaoh, " In this thou 
Shalt know that I am Jehovah." And when the pro- 
geny of their sacred river were to be brought up in 
such masses as to cover the whole land and all the 
objects in it, so that they could not move without de- 
stroying those deified creatures, they were specially 
forewarned, and had time to arrange and work their 
enchantments with as much success as in our own day 
attends the workers of Popish miracles. 

But in this last instance they had no previous notice. 
It was an experiment, doubtless, that they had never 
tried; they could do nothing without enchantments; 
they had no jugglery prepared for such a case ; they 
were baffled, disgraced, and thrust aside : and in what 
follows, the utter and desperate malignity of sin is 
shown in such obstinacy, hardihood, and perseverance 
on the part of Pharaoh and his people, as has a paral- 
lel ovAj in Satan and his angels. Occasionally, indeed, 
under the most appalling terrors of mind and sufferings 
of body, conscious that Jehovah had absolute power 
over all creatures and all elements, and that new and 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 203 

unknown horrors awaited them, some momentary con- 
cessions were extorted from their physical fears and 
agonies. 

On the infliction of the plague of flies, (another of 
the deified or idolized representatives of Baal,) Pharaoh, 
to convince him that Jehovah was the same as the 
Elohe of the Hebrews, and that his supremacy and 
power were universal over all the earth, was told that 
while this plague should fall upon him, and upon his 
servants and people, and into their houses, and upon 
the ground, it should not touch the Hebrews. "I will 
sever the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, 
that no swarms of flies shall be there ; to the end thou 
mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the 
earth'' In this, as in the case of the frogs, and equally, 
it is presumed, in the case of the lice, they were ne- 
ted to destroy multitudes of idolized creatures, 
representative of Baal, and thus by their own acts, 
as well as by their sufferings, to show that he was not 
able to protect his representatives, or those who wor- 
shipped him through them. Pharaoh hypocritically 
relented till, on the entreaty of Moses, Jehovah re- 
moved this plague. 

In the inflictions which followed, each was more 
appalling and terrific than those which preceded. They 
were introduced by special announcements of their 
object, their intensity, and their effects; a set time was 
specified for their occurrence, and in each case the land 
of Goshen was exempted. They were such as most 
unequivocally to demonstrate the almighty power of 
Jehovah, the Teason of their being visited upon the 
Egyptian-. Up: nature and bearings of the controversy, 
and the antagonist position and character of the par- 
ties. Jehovah, displaying his prerogatives and his 



204 THE MESSIAH 

righteousness in the visible effects of his power, "exe- 
cuted judgment against all the gods of Egypt." By 
the fifth plague, the idolized animals, models of the 
molten calves, with all the cattle of Egypt, were de- 
stroyed. By the sixth, the sacred persons, the priests, 
magicians, sorcerers, with all the people, high and low, 
were tormented with boils and blains, so that "the 
magicians could not stand before Moses, because of the 
boils." This being ineffectual, the grounds of the con- 
troversy were again particularized, and more terrible 
inflictions threatened. "I will at this time send all 
my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, 
and upon thy people ; that thou mayest know that 
there is none like me in all the earth." Then Jehovah 
"sent thunder, and hail, and fire; and the fire [or light- 
ning] ran upon the ground; and the hail smote man 
and beast, and herbs and trees ; only in the land of 
Goshen there was no hail." 

The air, which was the medium of the pestilential 
boils, and was an element of this terrific storm, un- 
precedented in Egypt or elsewhere, was, equally with 
the other elements, water and fire, idolized as an in- 
strument, medium, or vehicle of Baal ; fire being arro- 
gated as his attribute or element, and the sun as his 
shekina : and being so regarded by the Egyptians, it 
was shown in the most awful and appalling manner 
that Jehovah exercised the most absolute control over 
them. Pharaoh, under the impulse of amazement and 
terror, sent for Moses and Aaron, and said: "I have 
sinned this time : Jehovah is righteous, and I and my 
people are wicked. Entreat Jehovah (for it is enough) 
that there be no more might)' thundcrings and hail, 
and I will let you go." Moses replied, promising to do 
this, and that the storm should cease, that Pharaoh 



W MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 205 

H might know how that the earth is Jehovah's;" that 
is, that he might be convinced and know that the earth, 
the elements, and all creatures were Jehovah's, and 
not Baal's, and that he might renounce Baal, and ac- 
knowledge Jehovah. But "when Pharaoh saw that 
the rain, and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, 
'he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and 
his servants." No demonstration was or would be 
sufficient to end the controversy, so long as the re- 
lentless Adversary behind the scenes could, through 
their base propensities and depraved wills, delude and 
instigate his Egyptian vassals. The lesson to be taught 
to the Israelites and others, concerned not those hard- 
ened mortals only, but their subtle deceiver, and they, 
as subjects and instruments of his. 

When the plague of locusts was threatened, Pharaoh's 
servants remonstrated with him, and urged him to let 
the people go; and he sent for Moses and Aaron, and 
proposed that the men should go, and leave their fami- 
lies and flocks behind. This being totally refused, they 
were fearfully scourged by another of their idolized 
insects, in the destruction of every herb and plant, and 
all that the hail had left. This extorted from Pharaoh 
another confession: "I have sinned against Jehovah 
your Elohe, and against you. Now therefore forgive, 
I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah 
your Elohe that he may take away from me this death 
only." 

Nex1 the plague of dense total darkness for three 
days was senl upon nil the Egyptians, so thai, "they 
saw no- one another, neither rose any from his place." 
Thus the chief visible object of their idolatrous hom- 
age] the imputed residence and shekina of Baal, was 
excluded from their view, and all acts of idolatry and 



206 THE MESSIAH 

access to images precluded. Pharaoh now showed a 
degree of angry desperation ; and after offering to let 
the people go without their flocks, and those terms 
being rejected, he drove Moses from his presence, and 
threatened his life if he saw him again. 

There remained yet one more plague, the instant 
destruction of all the first-born of Egypt at the dead 
of night, which so terrified the whole population with 
dread of immediate and utter extermination, that with 
one voice they urged the departure without delay of 
all the Israelites, with all their flocks and goods, and 
with whatever gifts and supplies they wished. "And 
they took their journey ; and Jehovah went before them 
by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; 
and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to 
go by day and night." 

Thus the Messenger Jehovah, who introduced this 
train of visible wonders by appearing to Moses in the 
burning bush, signalized the triumphant rescue and 
march of his people out of Egypt by reappearing, and 
going before them in the cloud-like appendage, visibly 
luminous as fire by night, and as an irradiant form by 
day, which continued as the constant signal of his pre- 
sence during the whole period of their wanderings in 
the wilderness. 

But their departure, which took place in the night, 
was no sooner made known to the Egyptians than "the 
heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against 
them." They reproached themselves for having let 
them go, and were infatuated to pursue and bring them 
back. "And all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, 
and his horsemen and his army pursued and overtook 
them at the Red Sea." Still more stupendous exhibi- 
tions of power, supremacy and triumph on the one side, 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 207 

and of incurable and fatal delusion on the other, were 
required for the instruction aud conviction of that and 
succeeding ages. "And Melach (the) Elohim, which 
went before the camp of Israel, removed and went 
behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud went from 
before their face, and stood behind them, and it came 
between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of 
Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it 
gave light by night to these, so that the one came not 
near the other all the night." 

Thus the final trial was arranged and conducted 
under the visible direction of the Messenger Jehovah. 
The sea was divided, and the hosts of Israel went over 
as on dry land. Pharaoh's chariots and arnry followed. 
"Jehovah looked unto the host of the Egyptians 
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled 
them;" threw them into consternation by "taking off 
their chariot wheels," and by causing the waters to 
return, overwhelmed and drowned them in the midst 
of the sea. " Thus Jehovah saved Israel, and Israel 
saw that great work which Jehovah did upon the 
Egyptians ; and the people feared Jehovah, and believed 
Jehovah and his servant Moses." 

The greatness and wonderful n ess of this deliverance, 
as referred to and celebrated in other parts of Scripture, 
if regarded, not as a signal and never-to-be-forgotten 
triumph of the Messenger Jehovah over Satan, and the 
agents of his idolatry and imposture, but simply in its 
relation to the numbers, power, or unassisted skill of 
the Egyptians, are out of all proportion to the result. 
Instead of such an array of preparations, such threats 
and remonstrances, such a succession and selection of 
miracles and plagues, had the object been only to loosen 



208 THE MESSIAH 

their covetous hold on the labor and service of Israel, 
a single blow might as easily have destroyed them all 
in a moment as their first-born, or whelmed them in the 
Nile, as in the Eed Sea. But their idolatry denied the 
supremacy, prerogatives, and rights of Jehovah, and 
ascribed them, not to irrational animals and senseless 
elements, except as vehicles and mediums of homage, 
but to an intelligent and powerful rival, competitor, 
and pretender to the throne and government of the 
world, who claimed, prescribed, and received their wor- 
ship, arrogated the credit of bestowing the blessings of 
providence, sanctioned the indulgence of their passions, 
instigated their magical delusions, and had their confi- 
dence as to his power to protect them. It was to vin- 
dicate himself, and to confound that arrogant pretender, 
that Jehovah vouchsafed these demonstrations in the 
view of the Hebrews, who needed the lesson which they 
taught, and in a way to be rehearsed and known among 
the Canaanites and other nations of the earth. It Avas 
a marked and memorable scene in the jDrogress of that 
great antagonism which hitherto has constituted the 
basis, and, however obscured to the blinded view of 
the actors, or concealed by their craft and policy, has 
furnished the elements of history, and is yet in the view 
of the whole universe, with all the accompaniments of 
publicity and conclusiveness, to have its issue. 

It would require a chapter to refer to all the descrip- 
tions and allusions commemorative of this scene, in the 
triumphant song of Moses, recalled and sung, Eev. xv. 
3, by the redeemed, in celebration of their resembling 
deliverance, to the praise of the Lamb as their Redeemer, 
whom they address as the Lord God Almighty — Je- 
hovah, the Elohim ; and in the Psalms, exxxv., exxxvi., 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 209 

and other Scriptures, where to Jehovah are referred the 
wonders done in Egypt and in the wilderness, which by 
Mi sea are ascribed to him as Melach Jehovah. 

But, waiving these references, it maybe noticed as an 
additional evidence that it was the Delegated One, the 
Personal Word, who, after appearing visibly to Moses, 
and investing him with his ministerial office, executed 
those wondrous demonstrations in Egypt, that, prior to 
the signal exercise of his power and justice by which 
he destroyed all the first-born of the opposing party, 
he instituted for the benefit and as auxiliary to the 
faith of his people, the ordinance of the passover ; of 
which, the slaughter of the paschal lamb, the sprinkling 
of the blood as the means of exemption from death, 
and other details, had a counterpart in the circum- 
stances, reference, import, and Scripture narrative of 
his sacrifice of himself, Christ our Passover sacrificed 
for us ; the Lamb of God, slain virtually and in effect, 
as by covenant and oath, from the foundation of the 
world. 



210 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Further Illustration of the Antagonism — Idolatry a Counterfeit Rival 
System in opposition to the Messiah and the True Worship — Its Origin 
and Nature — Satan the God of it — The Tower of Bahel devoted to 
his Worship — That Worship extonded thence over the Earth at the 
Dispersion. 

The illustration of this mighty and ceaseless conflict 
requires particular reference to the system of idolatry 
by which, in opposition and rivalship to the w r orship 
and service of Jehovah, Satan organized his followers 
under Nimrod ; and on their dispersion to different 
regions of the globe, enslaved and held in bondage all 
the tribes and nations which they planted, and to which 
he at length seduced the kings, princes, priests, and all 
but a remnant of the chosen people. It was one com- 
prehensive antagonist rival system, copied and counter- 
feited in all its leading features from the doctrines and 
ritual revealed to the race at first, and renewedly 
taught and j)ractised by Noah, on his egress from the 
ark. In what forms the great Adversary had instigated 
the corruption and wickedness, and led on the masses 
of the race before the Deluge to their total destruction 
by that instrument of Jehovah's power, is but faintly 
intimated. The earth was filled with violence ; and it 
is not unlikely that Cain's example in presenting, con- 
trary to the Divine command and the ritual prescrip- 
tion, an offering not of blood, not typical of the expia- 
tory sacrifice of Messiah, the promised Son, but an 
offering intended for the occasion, by its nature, and in 
contrast to that of Abel, to express his denial and re- 



DC MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 211 

jection of the typical sacrifice and its antitype ; and his 
sullen and arrogant denial of his being in the wrong, 
and needing an atonement and forgiveness ; and the 
example of his persecuting malevolence, in killing his 
brother, may furnish a clue to the theory and practice 
of his party afterwards. 

But while Noah, conformably to the earlier practice, 
erected an altar to Jehovah, offered typical offerings, 
and otherwise complied with the ritual, professed the 
doctrines, and exercised the faith of the revealed sys- 
tem of religion, and was a preacher of righteousness ; 
his early descendants, like those of Adam, were soon 
separated into opposite parties of true and false wor- 
shippers. 

The false or idolatrous party, originally characterized 
as the seed of the serpent, the followers and servants of 
Satan, having, under Nimrod — a name signifying rebel — 
united in their antagonist scheme, commenced the erec- 
tion of the tower of Babel — otherwise Bel, Belus, or 
Baal — in Babylon. 

From a comparison of the terms employed with 
reference to this structure, and the object and nature 
of the idolatry to which it was devoted; its history and 
that of the structures and idolatry of other countries 
which were copied from the model here furnished; the 
descriptions in the Scriptures of that idolatry, both as 
practised by the heathen mid by the Israelites, and the 
references t<> it by Eerodotus, Thucydides, and other 
secular historians, the following summary statement in 
nil and two succeeding chapters is believed to 
!>■• well fouuclecL 

This tower or temple was originally destined, as it 
was afterwards devoted, to the worship of the great 
Adversary, who palmed himself upon his followers as 



212 THE MESSIAH 

god of this world, god of providence, bestower of bene- 
fits and blessings; the good principle or intelligence of 
the Babylonians, Persians, and other heathen nations, 
by whom he was regarded as a creature intermediate 
between the supreme, self-existent, invisible Being, and 
the human race, and in that character as creator and 
ruler of the world; having his residence in the sun as 
his tabernacle and shekina, and manifesting himself 
locally and at pleasure to his votaries in fire, as his ele- 
ment, and as the medium of their worship, sacrifices, 
incense, &c, and in light, and in the effects of the solar 
heat upon vegetation, and otherwise as causing the 
chief blessings and comforts of life. These visible 
objects and benefits appealed directly to the senses and 
the unrestrained passions of his followers, who, being 
at enmity with the righteous party, and irreconcilably 
opposed to the doctrines, duties, and restraints of their 
religion ; and yet, as well from social considerations as 
from their natures as dependent creatures, requiring a 
substitute, a rival antagonist system, and a head and 
leader consistent with it, may well be supposed to have 
entered into this system with a zeal, a pertinacity and 
desperateness, not exceeded by their successors in Baby- 
lon or elsewhere, nor even b}" that of the apostate Jews, 
who, in direct opposition to the doctrines and worship 
of Jehovah, established in his temple this idol system, 
with its emblems and rites, and the public and formal 
worship of its god in the sun, most boldly and im- 
piously turning their faces to the East, and their backs 
to the visible Shekina in the holy place. 

The system of corruption, delusion, and bondage, by 
which the great Adversary commenced his second ex- 
periment of lordship over his party, and of renewed and 
perpetual hostility towards the righteous, and treason, 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 213 

rebellion, impiety, and insult towards Jehovah their 
Elohe, required not only to be such as would gratify 
their depraved hearts and grovelling passions, so as to 
insure success to his craft and subtlety, but to be con- 
trived, adopted, and put in practice so as to unite, 
combine, and govern them, as soon as possible after the 
repeopling of the earth commenced. 

That it was in fact contrived, adopted, and practised 
prior to the dispersion, is proved by the resumption and 
practice of it by the dispersed tribes and nations both 
in the Eastern and "Western hemispheres : and that the 
nature, object, doctrines, rites, bearings, and ends of it, 
were originally well understood, and matter of common 
intelligence and notoriety, is proved by the close resem- 
blance of the system, as established in other quarters of 
ild, to the model metropolitan establishment in 
Babylon. 

This original tower or temple — which there is no rea- 
sonable ground to doubt continued near two thousand 
years, till Xerxes pillaged and destroyed it, together 
with the structures around it which had been added by 
Nebuchadnezzar — was six hundred feet square at the 
base, and Bix hundred feet in height, its cubic contents 
far exceeding those of the largest of the pyramids. It 
was devoted to the worship of the god of their idolatry, 
the intelligence to whom they ascribed the works of 
creation and providence, under the names Bel, Baal, 
Beelzebub, and other designations of Satan; and also to 
astronomical observations, which appear to have led to 
the appropriation, subsequently, of the moon to Astarte, 
consort of Baal and Queen of heaven, the prototype — not 
in respecl to ber moral character, which was wholly op- 
posite, but to her mediating office — of the deified Mary 



214: THE MESSIAH 

of the Papists ; and of the planets and stars, to subor- 
dinate auxiliary mediating demons of different species. 
The projectors and architects of this great paragon 
and wonder of the world were not a horde of ignorant, 
wandering nomades. They had knowledge and arts 
adequate to an undertaking, whether considered merely 
as a physical undertaking, or in connection with the 
stupendous and enduring system of imposture, impiety, 
and misery it was devoted to, which has not been 
equalled since : and which may well be conceived of as 
sufficient to occasion the local and special interposition 
of the Messenger Jehovah to confound their language 
and scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 
Their astronomy, and probably their geometry and other 
abstruse branches of knowledge, were, at least in respect 
to their leading principles, not inferior to those of the 
present day. Prideaux, speaking of this tower, which 
he holds to be the same with that destroyed by Xerxes, 
observes, that " when Alexander took Babylon, Callis- 
thenes the philosopher, who accompanied him thither, 
found they had astronomical observations for nineteen 
hundred and three years backward from that time, ivhich 
carrieth the account as high as the one hundred and 
fifteenth year after the flood, which was within fifteen 
years after the Tower of Babel was built. For the con- 
fusion of tongues, which followed immediately after the 
building of that tower, happened in the year wherein 
Peleg was born, Avhich was an hundred and one years 
after the flood ; and fourteen years after that, those ob- 
servations began. This account Callisthenes sent from 
Babylon into Greece, to his master Aristotle," &c. 
(Book II, part 1.) 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 215 



CHAPTER XX. 

The system of Idolatry founded on a perversion of the Doctrine of 
Mediation — References to the "Worshippers of BaaL Israelite and 
Pagan. 

This system of idolatry was founded on the doc- 
trine of mediation, which was the basis of the revealed 
system of true religion. But in the application of that 
doctrine, idolatry exhibited an entire perversion, ascrib- 
ing the mediatorial office and relations, not to Messiah, 
the Messenger Jehovah, the one only Mediator between 
God and man ; but to his adversary, antagonist, and 
competitor, who emphatically in this respect, and as 
creator and administrator of providence, arrogated the 
office, prerogatives, relations and works of Jehovah, the 
delegated Personal Word. 

This consideration alone affords a clue to any intel- 
ligent understanding of the system in its details, or of 
the succeeding history of the antagonism ; of the enor- 
mity and turpitude of idolatry as a crime ; and of the 
amazing retributions and judgments which it called 
down upon the Canaanitcs and other nations devoted to 
the worship of Baal, and upon the Israelites on their 
apostatizing to that worship. 

The doctrine of mediation and of one Divine Mediator, 
as it involved the relations of men to the Creator, moral 
and providential Ruler and Redeemer, was the basis 
and prime element in the patriarchal and Levitical 
economies, which prescribed a religion not merely for 
dependent, but for fallen, guilty creatures, no acts of 



216 THE MESSIAH 

whom, whether of obedience in performing ordinary- 
duties, or of religious homage, sacrifices, prayers or 
offerings, could be accepted unless rendered in the 
exercise of faith in the appointed Mediator, and a con- 
sciousness of entire dependence on his merits, and the 
efficacy of his mediation, as the only ground of accept- 
ance, and of the bestowment of blessings on them. 
Hence the typical sacrifices, and all the rites, ordinances, 
and prescriptions of that system. 

But from the nature of the case, and the consciousness 
of dependence, helplessness and misery in those who 
turned away from the true worship, a sense of the neces* 
sity of mediation and a mediator must naturally have 
been felt by them, as well as by those of the other party 
Without a sense of that necessity they would neither 
have projected nor adopted any religion whatever. It 
is the sole basis of all false religions. Those who have 
it not, must be classed with atheists or deists. The Jews 
who nominally reject the doctrine, and really reject the 
true Mediator, palpably contradict and pervert the 
religion which they profess, and virtually assign to their 
rites and forms the office of mediation. 

Nothing can be more unlikely or more absurd than 
the supposition that nations, tribes, or individuals should 
contrive or adopt or persevere in the practice of a false 
religion, without a notion more or less correct, and a 
conviction more or less strong and effective, of the ex- 
istence of a Supreme Being, to whose will the striking 
events of providence, the vicissitudes in their own 
experience, their acts, their prayers, their fears and 
hopes, had a real, though it might be a mysterious and 
incomprehensible, reference. But with such conviction, 
their false religion, naturally in theory, and necessarily 
in order to such effeot upon their hopes and fears as to 



EN" MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 217 

induce their perseverance in it, refers ultimately to that 
mysterious, unseen, and, without intermediate agencies 
and instruments of mediation, inaccessibla.Being. Such 
fears and such conviction, coupled with the uncertain- 
ties of the future, and with impending or foreboded 
evils, are, like instincts, deep seated, in the very nature 
of man. And hence, with reference to the false system 
under consideration, the facility, on the one hand, with 
which imposture, delusion, and desperate infatuation 
might take effect ; and the absurdity, on the other hand, 
of supposing that Baal, whose tabernacle in the sun, and 
whose manifestations in fire, light, air or water were 
ever visibly or sensibly present and familiar; or that 
any of the animals consecrated to him, or of the repre- 
sentative material images of animate or inanimate, 
rational or irrational forms, called idols, were ever mis- 
taken by any of his worshippers for that Being whom 
they regarded as supreme, ever invisible, and far removed 
from immediate intercourse and familiarity with mor- 
tals. Such a mistake would argue that the Egyptians, 
Greeks, Romans, Asiatics, Polynesians, Mexicans, and 
all other pagans, as well as the devotees of Popery, were 
more senseless than the animals, or even the material 
forma and figures, before which they bowed themselves 
down, and presented their gifts and offerings. 

But not to waste words on so plain a matter, let it be 
illustrated by reference to Scripture. 

The Israelites were so terrified by the thunders and 
lightnings at the giving of the Law, when Jehovah 
spoke to them directly, that "they removed and stood 
afar off; and they said unto Moses: Speak thou with us, 
and we will hear; but let not Elohim speak with us, 
die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear 
not, for (the) Elohim has come to prove you, and that 
10 



218 THE MESSIAH 

his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." 
Ex. xx. Moses, referring to this, Deut. v., says: "Je- 
hovah," that, is, the Messenger Jehovah, " talked with 
you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the 
fire, (I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to 
show you the word of Jehovah : for ye were afraid by 
reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) 
saying, I am Jehovah thy Elohe, which brought thee 
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 
Thou shalt have none other Elohim before me. Thou 
shalt not make thee any graven image, nor any likeness 
of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the 
earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth ; 
thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve 
them: For I, Jehovah thy Elohe, am a jealous El," &c. 
Shortly after this, Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, 
and seventy of the elders of Israel were called up into 
the mount, and "they saw the Elohe of Israel." Then 
Aaron and the others returned to the people, except 
Moses, who was called up into the cloud on the mount, 
and remained there forty days and forty nights. In the 
meantime, " the sight of the glory of Jehovah was like 
devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of 
the children of Israel." The appalling terrors of this 
sight, from which they were, at the announcement of the 
Law, so anxious to be relieved, being thus prolonged 
from week to week, and despairing of the return of their 
chosen interlocutor between Jehovah and them, the 
minds of the people reverted to the image representative 
of Baal, and with other images and idolized objects 
familiarly called Elohim, with which their sojourn in 
Egypt had made them acquainted: and they said to 
Aaron, " Up, make us Elohim which shall go before 
us ; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 219 

out of the land of Egypt, -\ve wot not what is become 
of him." Aaron accordingly made a molten calf, " and 
they said, This is thy Elohe, Israel, which brought thee 
up out of the land of Egypt:" plainly meaning, This 
image represents, is a visible representative of thy Elohe, 
and stands between him and us, as Moses, the man that 
brought us out of Egypt, stood between Jehovah and 
us at the giving of the Law. They wanted and deemed 
that they had in this molten image a visible representa- 
tive of the Elohe of Israel. But no one can suppose 
that Aaron, after having witnessed the wonders in 
Egypt, and assisted Moses as an instrument of them, 
and, with the elders, "seen the Elohe of Israel" in the 
mount, could mistake and ascribe to the brute image 
tii power and prerogatives of that Being; neither did 
the people imagine any thing to that effect. The crime 
of which they were guilty, and for which they were 
punished, was that of breaking a positive command; 
doing what was expressly forbidden ; making a graven 
image; worshipping it as a representative emblem of 
Jfehovah, and medium of their homage of him; placing 
it before him, between them and him, in imitation of the 
Egyptians, who made and worshipped similar images as 
the immediate, local, visible, familiar objects or media 
through which they offered their sacrifices and prayers 
to Baal. There is no intimation that they intended on 
tin- occasion to ascribe their deliverance from Egypt 
to Baal. Oe the contrary, they had witnessed i he most 
amazing demonstrations in the plagues and at the Eed 
thai their deliverance was effected by the high 
hand and outstretched arm of Jehovah, in opposition to 
thai adversary. They we<re required by sacrifices and 
prayers to worship the Elohe of Israel directly in spirit 
and in truth, conformably to the letter of their ritual, 



220 THE MESSIAH 

the divine doctrine of mediation, and his relations as the 
onlv Mediator between the invisible God and men. The 
introduction of a representative image or deified object 
between him and them, and offering burnt offerings in 
that relation, as Aaron did, was not only wholly incon- 
sistent with the nature, theory, and ritual of their reli- 
gion, and a flagrant act of disobedience ; but was 
calculated to lead them, as it afterwards did, to renounce 
Jehovah, and turn away to the exclusive worship of 
Baal through the medium of idols. Against this tend- 
ency they were often cautioned and warned ; and were 
commanded to destroy the images and altars of Baal 
wherever they encountered them. They were forbidden 
to inquire after the idol gods, or how the idolatrous 
nations served them, and were commanded to put to 
death members of their families, false prophets and others 
who should endeavor to entice them to idolatry, and 
utterly to destroy those who were enticed, with their 
families and all their effects. Dent, xii., xiii., &c. 

The first public defection of any of the Israelites, or 
any considerable number of them, took place nearly 
forty years after the Exodus, when, in their forty-second 
journey, they entered the plain of Moab, and were 
seduced by the Moabites to attend "the sacrifices of 
their gods ; and the people did eat, and bowed down to 
their gods, and Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor" — > 
that is, Baal, as worshipped on the eminence called 
Peor, where the vilest abominations were practised. 
Twenty-four thousand of the people were slain in rebuke 
of this apostasy. Under the Judges, after the death of 
Joshua, the children of Israel " forsook Jehovah, and 
served Baal and Ashtaroth," Judges ii. 3, 6 ; and again 
in the reign of Ahab, who, having married Jezebel, a 
heathen woman and zealous devotee of that idolatry, 



IX MOSES AXD THE PKOPHETS. 221 

built a house or temple of Baal in Samaria, erected an 
altar for him, and served and worshipped him. 

In the meantime, however, there continued generally 
among the Israelites a restless propensity for such visi- 
ble and familiar images as were common in Egypt and 
other nations, and which, notwithstanding the prohibi- 
tion in the Decalogue, and the wrath incurred for the 
violation under Aaron, and in the plain of Moab, they 
seem to have deemed consistent with their religion, 
provided the worship offered through them was directed 
to Jehovah and not to Baal. Thus, in the narrative of 
Micah, Judges xvii., it appears that silver which had 
been dedicated to Jehovah was wrought into a graven 
. not for any purpose of secret or heathenish 
idolatry, but as an instrument to be employed in his 
daily domestic worship of Jehovah. lie according^ 
engaged a Lcvite to officiate as priest, who, on the arrival 
of a company of Danitcs in search of a place to dwell 
in, made no secret of his occupation. Micah, on engaging 
him, said, " Xow know I that Jehovah will do me good, 
seeing I have a Levite to my priest;" which plainly 
implies that he professed to worship Jehovah, and to 
expect benefits only from him. An illustration to the 
like ''tl'ect is furnished in the history of Gideon, a true 
worshipper of Jehovah, to whom the Messenger Jeho- 
vah appeared, and who, in obedience to his command, 
destroyed the altar of Baal ; and yet, after having been 
the instrument, with three hundred men, of the destruc- 
tion of the kings of Midian, and of an army of one 
hundred and twenty thousand, took of the spoils of 
gold, and made an ephod and put it, in his city; an 
Imitation no doubt of that prescribed to Moses, but 
Intended, at a distance from the tabernacle, as an in- 
strument of worshipping and consulting Jehovah ; but 



222 THE MESSIAH 

-which, as naturally as if it had been a graven image, 
became a snare to him and to the people. 

Another illustration occurs in the history of Jero- 
boam, late a refugee and perhaps idolater in Egypt, 
who, fearing that if the people of the ten tribes, and the 
Levites who dwelt among them, should continue to go 
up to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the temple, 
their hearts would be turned from him to Rehoboam 
as their rightful king, " made two calves of gold, and 
said unto the people, It is too much for you to go up to 
Jerusalem ; behold thy Elohe, O Israel, which brought 
thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one 
in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing 
became a sin." Doubtless the people regarded these 
graven images in the same light as that made under the 
direction of Aaron ; for, with the exception of the 
priests and Levites, they acquiesced in the change, 
though a week before they were ready, as subjects of 
the legitimate successor of Solomon, to continue in the 
established worship of Jehovah in the temple. The 
priests and Levites were expelled as too closely con- 
nected with the service in Jerusalem ; new priests were 
appointed, and the same rites were observed before the 
images as before Jehovah in the temple. And when 
Jehu, in his zeal for Jehovah, slew all the partisans of 
Baal, he still adhered to the golden calves in Dan and 
Bethel, as not in his view inconsistent with the true 
worship. 2 Kings x. 

In the same class of acts, in point of turpitude, and 
in respect to the apparent intention of the actors and 
the tendency of their acts, may be included that of 
Nadab and Abihu, in "offering strange fire before Jeho- 
vah, which he commanded them not. And there went 
out lire from Jehovah and devoured them, and they 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 223 

died before Jehovah.;" and that of Korah and his 
company, who usurped the priests' office and burned 
incense, and were destroyed with their families and 
fourteen thousand of their adherents. 

These illustrations show that the worship rendered to 
images did not terminate in them as its object, but 
referred to an unseen Intelligence beyond them, who 
was supposed to be cognizant of their circumstances 
and their acts, and to be able to protect them and grant 
their requests. It proceeded on the assumption that the 
visible emblem, the graven image, or whatever was 
selected by individuals or canonized by the priests, and 
worshipped as an idol — the proper signification of which 
is, a figure, likeness, or representation — was a medium 
of intercourse with the Being worshipped. 

This was the case, not merely with the Israelites in 
their use of images in the real or pretended worship 
of Jehovah, but equally of the devoted worshippers of 
Baal. A few references out of many which might be 
made, will show that their prayers and offerings were 
directed to the unseen object of their homage. Thus, 
in the formal controversy between Elijah, as prophet 
of Jehovah, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of 
Baal, to demonstrate by fire, to Ahab and the people, 
which was supreme, whether Jehovah or the Baal was 
ohim to be worshipped and obeyed; Elijah pro- 
that each party should offer a sacrifice of animals, 
:ni-l let it be seen which would be miraculously con- 
BUmed, and said: "Call ye on the name of your Elohc," 
—rendered bere ami elsewhere erroneously gods in the 
plural, as it' tin -re were more than one Baal, — "and I 
will r.il] on the name of Jehovah; and the Elohim that 
roth by fire, let him be the Elohim. And all the 
people answered and said, It is well spoken. And 



224 THE MESSIAH 

Elijah said unto the prophets of the Baal, Choose you 
one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first, for ye arc 
many, and call on your Elohe ; but put no fire under. 
And they took the bullock which was given them, and 
they dressed it, and called on the name of the Baal from 
morning even until noon, saying, O the Baal, hear us! 
But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And 
they leaped upon the altar that was made. And it came 
to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry 
aloud, for he is an Elohim ; either he is talking, or he 
is pursuing, or he is in & journey, or perad venture he 
sleepeth, and must be awaked. And they cried aloud, 
and cut themselves, after their manner, with knives and 
lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them. And they 
prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening 
sacrifice, and there was neither voice, nor any to answer, 
nor any that regarded." 1 Kings xviii. 

In this case there does not appear to have been any 
intervening image or idol. The priests called on the 
name of the absent, invisible Baal, but he answered not. 
He could not assist them by working a real miracle, 
and under the circumstances they could not counterfeit 
one ; and with the approbation of the people, who saw 
that they were impostors, they were all slain. 

That the real object of their worship was distinct 
from their images, is implied in their selecting high 
places for their religious rites, and erecting lofty towers 
for that purpose, where the sun could be earliest seen at 
rising, and where the stars or host of heaven could be 
most advantageously observed ; and in burning their 
children as sacrifices, making them pass through the 
fire to Baal or Moloch. Thus, in the reign of Ahaz, 
2 Kings xvii., "They made them molten images, even 
two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the 



IN - MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 225 

host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused 
their sons and their daughters to pass through the 
fire." Manasseh made his son pass through the fire ; 
and in Josiah's reformation he put down the idolatrous 
priests u that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun 
[literally, to Baal, the sun] and to the moon, and to the 
planets, and to all the host of heaven." 2 Kings xxiii. 
Jeremiah says: "They have built also the high places 
of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings 
unto Baal." Chap. xix. 5. Again : 'And they built 
the high places of Baal, to cause their sons and their 
daughters to pass through the fire unto Moloch." Jer. 
xxxii. 35. And of Josiah it is said, that he defiled 
Tophet — " that no man might make his son or his 
daughter to pass through the fire to Moloch." 2 Kings 
xxiii. 10. Their idea evidently was, that by sacrificing 
in this way the most valued offering they could make, 
that of their children, they would pass in and through 
that element to Baal, whose residence was conceived to 
be in the solar orb. 

The term Moloch — variously written Melech, Moloch, 
Malcom, Milcom — as a designation, refers to the same 
being as Baal ; the literal import of the latter being the 
same aa that of the Lord, as the sun is lord of the day; 
and that of the former, the same as the king, as the sun 
is king of the day. The molten images, representative 
of Moloch, in the heated chest or arms of which, chil- 
dren offered in sacrifice were burnt, are somewhat 
variously described, but generally as having the head 
of a calf and the body of a man, with an opening in the 
chest, into whirl], when lirated from below, the victims 
were cast alive ; and to drown their cries, as in the 
burning of widows in India, under the same general 
notion, drums were beaten. 
10* 



226 THE MESSIAH 

It appears evident from the passages in which they 
occur in the Scriptures, that the terms Bel, Baal, and 
Baalim, are personal designations of the intelligence 
worshipped by the Chaldeans, and other idolaters, as 
their god, and by the Israelites in opposition to Jeho- 
vah. Thus, Jer. 1. 2 : "Declare ye among the nations, 
.... Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Mero- 
dach is broken in pieces ;" and li. 44 : "I will punish 
Bel in Babylon. . . . The nations shall not flow to- 
gether any more to him." That is, by the destruction 
of Babylon, Bel, the god of their idolatry, is con- 
founded, punishment is inflicted on him; Merodach, 
the chief idol representative of Bel, is broken in pieces. 

In most of the instances in which the same designa- 
tion is rendered Baal, it has the article, making the 
personal reference emphatic. 

" Throw down the altar of the Baal that thy father 
hath, and cut down the grove [statue of wood, or pil- 
lar carved statue or image-like] that is by it : and build 
an altar unto Jehovah thy Elohe. . . . And when the 
men of the city arose in the morning, behold, the altar 
of the Baal was cast down, &c. . . . If he be an Elohim, 
let him plead for himself. . . . Let the Baal plead against 
Gideon, because he hath thrown down his altar." Judges 
vi. 25, 26, &c. 

Ahab "went and served the Baal, and worshipped 
him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house 
of the Baal which he had built in Samaria." 1 Kings 
xiv. 31, 82. 

"And Elijah said, If Jehovah be the Elohim, follow 
him : but if the Baal, then follow him." 1 Kings xviii. 21. 

So in the narrative of the destruction of the house, 
and the prophets, priests, and worshippers of the Baal, 
by Jehu, 2 Kings x. 18-28, the article occurs with the 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 227 

name in the successive verses. And chap. xi. 18 : "All 
the people of the land went into the house of the Baal 
and brake it down ; his altars and Ms images brake 
they in pieces." 

It is manifest from these and other like passages, 
that while the statues and images of Baal were many 
and various, in all countries and places, the Baal, the 
real object of worship, represented by them, was one. 
To him, under another of his designations, that of 
Moloch, human victims offered in sacrifice were sup- 
posed to pass through the element of fire. 

Nor does this conclusion appear to be invalidated by 
the occurrence of the designation in a plural form, ren- 
dered Baalim. The usage in this respect seems analo- 
gous to that of the word Elohim. In both cases the 
article is often prefixed; and the reference is to one 
agent only. Thus, Judges viii. 33 : " The children of 
Israel turned again . . . after the Baalim, and made 
Baal-berith their Elohim." Again, chap. x. 10-16, the 
children of Israel said : " We have forsaken our Elohe, 
and also served the Baalim. And Jehovah said, . . . 
Ye have forsaken me, and served other Elohim. . . . Go 
and cry unto the Elohim which ye have chosen. . . . 
And they put away the strange Elohe from among 
them, and served Jehovah." 

The terms, Baal-berith, signify the god of the covenant, 
i. e., of the covenant between Baal and his worshippers; 
as Melach Berith, Mai. iii. 2, signifies the Messenger of the 
Covenant of grace. 

It is thus presumed to be evident beyond a r)oubt, 
that the whole system was based upon a theory and a 
sense of the necessity of mediation ; and whether the 
earlier or later idolaters, the instructed or the ignorant, 
referred in their worship to a being beyond or superior 



228 THE MESSIAH 

to Baal, regarding him as created by that superior being, 
and yet himself as creator of the world, or whether their 
homage terminated in him, does not affect the question 
under consideration. 

Mosheim, in his Commentaries on the three first 
centuries of the Christian era, observes, with respect 
to the costly and sumptuous buildings of the pagans, 
called temples, fanes, &c, and dedicated to the worship of 
their gods, that internally "they were ornamented with 
images of the gods, and furnished with altars," &c. 
"The statues were supposed to be animated by the 
deities whom they represented ; for though the worship- 
pers of gods like those above described must, in a 
great measure, have turned their backs upon every dic- 
tate of reason, they were yet by no means willing to 
appear so wholly destitute of common sense as to pay 
their adoration to a mere idol of metal, wood, or stone ; 
but always maintained that the statues, when properly 
consecrated, were filled with the presence of those 
divinities whose forms they bore." Vol. i. 16. 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 229 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Idolatry an imposing and delusive Counterfeit of the Revealed System, 
in respect to the leading features of its Ritual, and the prerogatives 
ascribed to the Arch-deceiver — Reference to the Symbols of the 
Apocalypse. 

This antagonist system "was, in respect to the attri- 
butes and prerogatives impiously arrogated by the great 
Adversary, and in respect to the leading features of its 
ritual, a bold, seductive, and imposing counterfeit of 
the revealed system taught and practised by Noah and 
hifl < loscendants in the line of Shem. 

To substitute a false appearance, a deceitful imitation, 
a resembling counterfeit, a cheat, a lie, was as obviously 
expedient, and even necessary, in such a case, as it is in 
keeping with the craft and subtlety of Satan to deceive 
and beguile. He had to entice, allure, and impose on 
those who knew what the true system was, and by what 
miracles and wonders it had been sanctioned ; who 
witnessed its effects in the lives of those who practised 
it, were familiar with its institutions and public ob- 
servances; and whose understandings must have been 
more or less influenced by its inherent and its hereditary 
claims, and by its voice of encouragement and hope to 
the righteous, and of alarm and terror to the wicked. 
Onder such circumstances, to resist and counteract the 
n divinely prescribed and established, it was ne- 
to impose on the understandings of men, as well 
alisl their feelings, give scope to their propensi- 
ties, and gratify their passions. To have called on them 
to worship him directly in his true character, without 



230 THE MESSIAH 

disguise, or to worship him as a being of inferior claims 
to those of Jehovah, or by rites and ceremonials less 
significant and imposing, would not have been likely 
to secure their homage and allegiance. His own undis- 
guised character would have been revolting ; an inferior 
could not protect them against the superior Being ; to 
ise with public and visible rites and ceremonies 
would have been to disappoint and resist their propensi- 
ties and passions ; and no others but such as were 
already in use could be made to maintain a competition 
with them. 

Accordingly, he arrogated the name, power, preroga- 
tives, works, relations and government of Jehovah. He 
claimed to be god of this world : its creator, providen- 
tial ruler, dispenser of benefits, protector of his followers, 
and rightful object of their homage and obedience, in 
opposition to Jehovah. He took the then current name 
in Babylon of the sun, Bel — or, as pointed and commonly 
rendered, Baal — Lord of Heaven, Supreme Euler, like 
the sun in the visible heaven; afterwards, with the same 
import, the Egyptian name of the same object, On, (often 
rendered Aven.) Also, Moloch, (Melek,) King; Baal- 
Zebub, Lord of Hosts — Zebub being a corruption of 
Zebaoth, hosts, as in the formula, Jehovah Zebaoth, 
Lord of Hosts ; and among the Phoenicians, Baal Samen, 
Lord of Heaven. 

He arrogated the sun as his tabernacle or shekina, and 
the solar fire and light as his element : imitating, we may 
well believe, in respect to the first of these particulars, 
what had been exhibited in Eden, and from time to 
time prior to the age of Abraham, as it was afterwards, 
and especially to Moses in Midian, in the pillar of cloud, 
at the Bed Sea, on Mount Sinai, and in the tabernacle. 
And in imitation of the tabernacle erected by Moses in 



IN HOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 231 

the wilderness, the partisans of Baal erected the taber- 
nacle of Moloch, i. e., Baal under that name. Amos v.; 
Acts vii. 

Prideaux, Part I., Book 3, treating of the origin of 
idolatry, and yet describing it at an advanced stage, 
when, in addition to the sun, the planets and stars had 
been brought into its service, observes : " That they 
took upon themselves to address the being whom they 
worshipped," and whom he supposes they regarded as 
the true God, "by mediators of their own choosing. 
And their notion of the sun, moon, and stars being, that 
they were the tabernacles or habitations of intelligences 
which animated those orbs, in the same manner as the 
soul of man animates his body, and were the causes of 
all their motions ; and that those intelligences were of 
a middle nature between God and them ; they thought 
these the properest beings to become the mediators 
between God and them ; and, therefore, the planets 
being the nearest to them of all these heavenly bodies, 
and generally looked on to have the greatest in- 
fluence on this world, they made choice of them in 
the first place for their God's-mediators, who were 
to mediate for them with the Supreme God, and 
re from him the mercies and favors which they 
I for; and accordingly they directed divine wor- 
ship unto them as such. Ami here began all the idolatry 
that hath been practised in the world. They firsl 
worshipped them /,cr sunlht, thai is. by their tabernacles^ 
and afterwards by images also. By these sacella or 
"des they meant the orbs themselves, which they 
looked on only as the sacella or sacred tabernacles in 
which the intelligences had their habitations. And 
therefore, when they paid their devotions to any one of 
them, they directed their worship towards the planet 



232 THE MESSIAH 

in which they supposed he dwelt. But these orbs, by 
their rising and setting, being as much under the ho- 
rizon as above, they were at a loss how to address to 
them in their absence. To remedy this, they had re- 
course to the invention of images, in which, after their 
consecration, they thought these intelligences, or inferior 
deities, to be as much present by their influence as in 
the planets themselves, and that all addresses to them 
were made as effectually before the one as before the 
other. And this was the beginning of image worship 
among them. To these images were given the names of 
the planets they -represented. . . . After this, a notion 
obtaining that good men departed had a power with 
God also to mediate and intercede for them, they deified 
many of those whom they thought to be such; and 
hence the number of their gods increased, in the idola- 
trous times of the world. This religion first began 
among the Chaldeans, which their knowledge of astrono- 
my helped them to. And from this it was that Abra- 
ham separated himself when he came out of Chaldea. 
From the Chaldeans it spread itself over all the East, 
where the professors of it had the name of Sabians. 
From thence it passed into Egypt, and from thence to 
the Grecians, who propagated it to all the western 
nations of the world ; and therefore those who mislike 
the notion advanced by Maimonides, that many of the 
Jewish laws were made in opposition to the idolatrous 
rites of the Sabians, are much mistaken when they 
object against it that the Sabians were an inconsiderable 
sect, and therefore not likely to be so far regarded in 
that matter. . . . Anciently, they were all the nations 
of the world that worshipped God by images. And 
that Maimonides understood the name in this latitude 
is plain from hence, that he tells us the Sabians whom 



EN* MOSES AKD THE PROPHETS. 233 

he spoke of were a sect whose heresy had overspread 
almost all mankind. . . . That which hath given them 
the greatest credit among the people of the East is, that 
the best of their astronomers have been of this sect, as 
Thebat Ebn Korrah, Albatani, and others ; for the 
stars being the gods they worshipped, they made them 
the chief subject of their studies. These Sabians, in 
the consecrating of their images, used many incantations 
to draw down into them, from the stars,- those intelli- 
gences for whom they erected them, whose power and 
influence they held did afterwards dwell in them." 

" Directly opposite to these were the Magians, another 
sect, who had their original in the same Eastern countries. 
For they, abominating all images, worshipped God only 
by fire." These, instead of branching off from the 
Sabians, doubtless preceded them. " Their chief doc- 
trine was, that there were two principles : one which 
was the cause of all good, and the other the cause of 
all evil : that is to say, God and the Devil. That the 
former is represented by light and the other by darkness, 
as their truest symbols, and that of the composition of 
these two all things in the world are made. . . . And 
concerning these two gods there was this difference of 
opinion among them — that whereas some held both of 
theta to have been from eternity, there were others that 
contended that the good God only was eternal, and that 
the other waa created. Bui 1 1 icy both agreed in this, 
thai th re will be a continual opposition between these 
two till the end of the world. That then the good God 
shall overcome the evil god, and thai from thenceforward 
each of them shall have his world to himself: thai is, 
the good ( !<>d his world, with all good men with him, 
and the evil god his world, with all evil men with him. 
That, darkness is the truest symbol of the evil god, and 



234 THE MESSIAH 

light the truest symbol of the good God: and therefore 
they ahvavs worshipped him before fire, as being the 
cause of light, and especially before the sun, as being, 
in their opinion, the perfectest fire, and causing. the 
perfectest light. And for this reason, in all their tem- 
ples, they had fire continually burning on altars erected 
in them for that purpose. And before these sacred fires 
they offered up all their public devotions, as likewise 
they did all their private devotions before their private 
fires in their own houses. Thus did they pay the 
highest honor to light, as being in their opinion 
the truest representative of the good God, but always 
hated darkness, as being what they thought the truest 
representative of the evil god, whom they ever had in 
the utmost detestation, as we now have the Devil." 

The author's account of the origin and nature of 
idolatry is in most particulars, undoubtedly correct. The 
exceptions, however, are of great significance. He 
seems to suppose that the system was contrived and 
adopted by men, without the instigation of Satan, and 
that their object was the worship of the true God, in 
opposition to that evil being. But the intelligence 
whom they called the good God was Satan himself, sup- 
posed to be in the sun as his tabernacle, and in fire and 
light as his element. And as to what they termed the 
evil god, it was obviously necessary to the success of 
his system, as a counterfeit of the true, that it should 
pretend to have a devil and a perpetual antagonism. It 
was probably as well known then, and perhaps more 
generally believed than it is now, that there was such 
an evil being ; and that he was and would continue to 
be utterly opposed to the true God. And a false or 
counterfeit system, in which the false god was to arro- 
gate the name and pass himself off for the true God, 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 235 

must provide also an antagonist, a competitor, a devil ; 
and to carry oat the cheat, assign to him darkness as 
his tabernacle, in opposition to light as his own. 

It were superfluous to dwell on the imposing and 
plausible aspect of the scheme in the particulars above 
referred to, considered as addressed to the depraved 
hearts, corrupt imaginations, and evil passions of men; 
opposed to the purity, the requirements, and the re- 
straints of the true religion, and willingly the followers 
and servants of the Evil One. While it imposed no 
restraint upon their corruptions, every point in the 
contrast must have had its effect. It excluded mystery, 
and appealed directly to their senses ; presenting in the 
sun an object of homage, not only familiar to their view 
without causing fear, but apparently the beneficent and 
constant source of their daily comforts and greatest 
blessings; and by means of fire and light, artificially 
produced, enabling every individual to avail himself of 
the immediate presence and the beneficial influence and 
effects of that object, brought thus within their control, 
in their dwellings and on their hearths. 

The ritual of worship prescribed the erection of altars, 
a priesthood, various offerings besides the sacrifice of 
animals, prayers, the burning of incense, feasts, celebra- 
te in.-, and other counterfeits of the revealed system. As 
a counter] tart to the sacred oracle and the gift of prophecy, 
the worshippers of Baal had auguries, divinations, and 
pretended oracles in every country. Their prophets 
prophesied in the name of Baal. Jer. ii. 8; xxiii. 13. 
"Ahaziah being sick, senl messengers, and said unto 
them, Go and inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, 
whether I shall recover of this disease." 2 Bj 
The responses of their oracles, which continued till 
after the destruction of the first temple and the cessation 



236 THE MESSIAH 

of true prophets, and more or less down to the Advent, 
when they appear to have ceased, were studiously con- 
trived so as to admit equally well of different interpre- 
tations, and so as not to be interpreted with any confi- 
dence till after the event ; and in this respect they were 
just what the great mass of learned interpreters and ex- 
positors of the Scripture prophecies have for ages taken 
them to be ; imputing to them a double sense : to their 
literal language a figurative meaning, to their definite local 
references a symbolical import, capable only of being- 
guessed at, and in general regarding them as enigmas — i 
inspired indeed by Him who is head over all things for 
the information and preservation of his Church, but not 
intended to be understood, unless by those who survive 
the events predicted. 

It would be easy to show, by tracing the parallel in 
numberless other and more minute details, that the false 
system was throughout a parody of the true ; and to 
illustrate the ceaseless antagonism and rivalship which 
was carried on, in the face of the universe, b}^ the con- 
flict of the two systems, with their visible agencies, 
institutions, instrumentalities, and effects; occupying, 
directing and stimulating the attention and the energies, 
the thoughts and feelings, the hopes and fears, and 
involving the temporal well-being and the immortal 
destiny of the whole race : presenting a scene which, 
whether considered in relation to one period or another, 
the past or the present, Paganism or Romanism, super- 
stition or rationalism, can be accounted for, with or 
without the Bible, upon no assumption or theory but 
that of the enmity and opposition announced and com- 
menced in Eden, which is still in progress and still has 
a future. ' 

In the progress of this war, the Devil and his angels, 



IS MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 237 

the Prince of the power of the air, with the principali- 
ties, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world 
under him, has, from policy if not from necessity, kept 
concealed behind his instruments. But the heads and 
leaders of his visible partisans among men, whether in 
the abominations of heathenism, the enormities of idola- 
try, the wars and butcheries of nations, the tyrannies of 
government, the horrors of anarchy, the immolation of 
human victims, the persecution and slaughter of prophets 
and martyrs, or in the no less fatal systems of heresy, 
false theology, and false philosophy, have never scrupled 
or been backward to do the utmost he could wish in 
furtherance of his object. Many of them, like the 
Cterinthians, Marcionites, Valentinians, and other preva- 
lent sects in the first ages of Christianity, ascribed to 
him the works of creation and providence ; and there 
were not wanting such as worshipped him by name, 
and others under the designation of the Serpent; and 
still others who paid the highest honors to Cain, Judas, 
and similar characters, as his most conspicuous repre- 
sentatives. 

The popular notion of idolatry, under the name of 
polytheism, as if i1 involved the supposition of a plurality 
of Bupreme deities, owes its influence, at least among 
those who read the English version of the Scriptures, 
tothefacl thai the translators rendered the designations 
of the god of the idolatrous system as plural, though in 
the Hebrew they are written in the singular number. 
Knowing thai there was but one true God. they uni- 
formly rendered Elohim as well as Elohe, when em- 
ployed with reference to that Being, in the singular 
number; bul when employed with reference to the rival 
usurper, the false god, their rendering is plural, gods; 
as if the molten images and numberless idols in other 



238 THE MESSIAH 

forms, instead of being all representative of one supposed 
deity, or being regarded as mediators, or representatives 
of mediators between them and him, were themselves 
so many independent deities. Thus, in Labaii's remon- 
strance with Jacob: "Wherefore hast thou stolen my 
Elohe?" 1 rendered gods, and in Jacob's answer: "With 
whomsoever thou findest thy Elohe," rendered gods, the 
meaning plainly is, (though there seems to have been 
more than one image, teraphim-images, v. 34,) that 
which represents my Elohe. Gen. xxxi. 30-32. Again, 
Exod. xx. 1-23 : "And Elohim spake all these words : 
I am Jehovah thy Elohe; thou shalt have no other 
Elohim before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any 
graven image. Ye shall not make with me Elohe of 
silver;'' an Elohe, a god, rendered gods. "Neither shall 
ye make unto you Elohe of gold;" an Elohe, a molten 
image representative of me, rendered gods. "Against 
the Elohe of Egypt I will execute judgment." Exod. xii. 
12, rendered, " against all the gods of Egypt," &c. " Thou 
shalt not bow down to their Elohe." (Eng. gods.) " Ye 
shall serve Jehovah your Elohe,' 1 {Eng. God.) Exod. 
xxiii. 21, 25. "Aaron made it a molten calf: and they 
said, This is thy Elohe, Israel, which brought thee up 
out of the land of Egypt." Exod. xxxii. 1, rendered, 
" These le thy gods, Israel." Undoubtedly the meaning 
is : This molten image is a visible token or representative 
of Jehovah thy Elohe — a visible mediator or medium 
of intercourse with thy Elohe, in place of Moses. So 
Jeroboam, having made two such images, two calves of 
gold, said : " Behold thy Elohe, Israel, which brought 
thee up out of the land of Egypt." 2 Kings xii. 28; ren- 
dered, Behold thy gods, O Israel. This usage character- 
izes the translation. 

Besides the absurdity of supposing that the Israelites, 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 239 

with the revelation of the one Supreme Being by which 
they were distinguished, or that the heathen should 
admit the notion of a plurality of such beings, it is 
apparent from the nature of the case that the counter- 
feit of the true system must originally, in order to its 
success, have been a counterfeit in this, the first and 
most essential of all its particulars. The very nature 
of the antagonism, and the false system of mediation by 
which idolatry was sustained and rendered practically 
successful, required this. Even when Astarte, as Queen 
of heaven, was associated with Baal, it was only in a 
subordinate relation, as mediatrix, the moon being her 
shekina, and her office being the prototype of that of 
the Popish Mary ; while Baal arrogated the prerogatives 
of Jehovah, and the sun as his shekina. 

To this evil being, among others, the following desig- 
nations are applied in the Hebrew Scriptures : Serpent, 
as in Gen. iii.: "Jehovah Elohim said unto the serpent, 
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
between thy seed and her seed." Thee, the " tempter," 
"the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and 
Satan." Rev. xx. "The great dragon, that old serpent, 
called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole 
world." Rev. xii. The apostle expresses his fear "lest 
by any means" the false teachers should corrupt his 
converts, "as the serpent beguiled Eve through his 
subtlety." 2 Cor. xi. The original vrord, when not em- 
ployed as a persona] designation, is often rendered "en- 
chantment^ divination," &c. Satan is commonly rendered 
adversary; bul frequently Satan, as a personal designa- 
tion of the Evil One, where his local agency is particu- 
larly mentioned, as .Job i. and ii.; 1 Chron. xxi. 1; 
Zech. iii. I. 2. 

" By collecting all the passages where Satan or the 



240 THE MESSIAH 

Devil is mentioned, it may be observed that be fell from 
heaven, with all his company; that God cast him down 
from thence for the punishment of his pride ; that by 
his envy and malice, sin, death, and all other evils came 
into the world ; that by the permission of God he exer- 
cises a sort of government in the world over his sub- 
ordinates, over apostate angels like himself ; that God 
makes use of him to prove good men and chastise bad 
ones ; that he is a lying spirit in the mouth of false 
prophets, seducers, and heretics ; that it is he or some 
of his that torment or possess men ; that inspire them 
with evil designs, as he did David, when he suggested 
to him to number his people ; to Judas, to betray his 
Lord and Master, and to Ananias and Sapphira, to 
conceal the price of their field. That he roves full of 
rage, like a roaring lion, to tempt, to betray, to destroy 
us, and to involve us in guilt and wickedness. That 
his power and malice are restrained within certain limits, 
and controlled by the will of God. In a word, that he 
is an enemy to God and man, and uses his utmost en- 
deavors to rob God of his glory and men of their souls." 
"Devil — a most wicked angel, the implacable enemy 
and tempter of the human race. He is called Abaddon 
in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek ; that is, destroyer, Rev. 
ix. 11. Angel of the bottomless pit, Prince of the world, 
John xii. 31. Prince of darkness, Ephes. vi. 12. A 
roaring lion and an adversary, 1 Pet. v. 8. A sinner 
from the beginning, 1 John iii. 8. Beelzebub, Matt, 
xii. 24. Accuser, Rev. xii. 10. Belial, 2 Cor. vi. 15. 
Deceiver, Rev. xx. 10. Dragon, Rev. xii. 3. Liar, 
John viii. 44. Leviathan, Isa. xxvii. 7. Lucifer, Isa. 
xiv. 12. Murderer, John viii. 44. Serpent, Isa. xxvii. 
1. Satan, Job ii. 6. Tormentor, Matt, xviii. 34. The 
god of this world, 2 Cor. iv. 4. He is compared to a 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 241 

dog, Ps. xxii. 16. Fowls, Matt. xiii. 4. A fowler, Ps. 
xci. 3. Lightning, Luke x. 18. Locusts, Rev. v. 3. A 
wolf, John x. 12. An adder, Ps. xci. 13. These 
names are given to the Prince of devils. Devil is put 
for, [1] Idols, Ps. cvi. 37; 2 Chron. xi. 15. [2] A 
wicked man, John vi. 70. [3] Persecutor, Rev. ii. 10." 
Cruden's Concordance, Art. " Satan and Devil." 

This fallen being was expressly worshipped in or 
through the form of the serpent, by the ancient Persians, 
under the name Ahriman; by the Egyptians, under that 
of Typhon ; by the Greeks, under that of Python ; and 
by the Syrians, Hindoos, Mexicans, and other nations, 
under different designations. 

In Leviticus xvii. 7, Satan and his angels appear to 
be referred to under the word devils, where the chil- 
dren of Israel are commanded " to sprinkle the blood 
of animals slain by them on the altar of Jehovah, at the 
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and to burn 
the fat for a sweet savor unto Jehovah." 'And," it is 
added as a reason of the command, " they shall no more 
offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have 
gone a whoring." Probably the images before which 
they thus offered sacrifices were those of goats, as the 
same word is often rendered goats. Again, 2 Chron. ii. 
15, it is said of Jeroboam that "He ordained him 
i< >r i be high places, and for the devils, and for the 
oalvea which he hud made." This may with propriety 
be rendered, "and for the devils, even for the calves," 
the representatives of Satan which he had made. A 
differenl original word is rendered devils, Deut. xxxii. 
17, where it is said that Israel "forsook God which 
made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. 
They provoked him to jealousy, &c. They sacrificed 
unto devils, not to God ; to Elohim whom they knew 
11 



242 THE MESSIAH 

not." The word here translated devils is often rendered 
spoiler, destroyer, destruction, <fcc. Doubtless the reference 
is to an intelligence beyond any visible image. The 
same word occurs, Ps. cvi. 36, 37 : "They served their 
idols, which were a snare unto them ; yea, they sacrificed 
their sons and their daughters unto devils." 

Since the existence of the fallen angels and of their 
prince and leader was known from the beginning ; and 
that he was prince and leader also of the party of the 
human race which was at enmity with the true wor- 
shippers of Jehovah ; and since they manifested their 
hostility chiefly in their false system of religion, it seems 
reasonable and even necessary to conclude that they 
followed and supported their leader in his rivalship, and 
regarded him, however represented by images, as the 
object of their worship, in opposition to Jehovah, the 
object, through sacrifices, of the homage of his worship- 
pers. In this view of their conduct, it is easy to con- 
ceive that their serving and worshipping idols should 
provoke Jehovah to jealousy. They served and wor- 
shipped an antagonist, a rival. 

Let the reader suppose himself to have been present 
as a disinterested spectator of the condition of the Hebrew 
Church in Egypt prior to the legation of Moses ; to have 
witnessed their practice of the rites and forms of the 
patriarchal worship, in contrast with the idol worship 
of the Egyptians ; to have witnessed instances, like that 
of Moses, of individuals " choosing rather to suffer 
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the plea- 
sures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of 
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt;" to 
have heard their sighs and cries to God by reason of 
their bondage, and known that "God heard their groan- 
ing, and remembered his covenant with Abraham, with 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 243 

Isaac, and with Jacob, and looked upon the children of 
Israel, and had respect unto them;" and that the Mes- 
senger Jehovah said, "I have surely seen the affliction 
of my people, and have heard their cry by reason of 
their task-masters ; for I know their sorrows, and I am 
come down to deliver them out of the hand of the 
Egyptians-;" and further, to have known that they were 
familiar with the historical facts of the patriarchal 
history, and of the appearances of Jehovah in the form 
and under the designation of man to Abraham and to 
Jacob, and often visibly as the Messenger Jehovah ; and 
that altars were erected, and sacrifices and prayers were 
offered to him in that form ; and that he was customarily 
recognized and worshipped in that form, at places 
riated by him for that purpose, where 

- to be invoked and acknowledged as Jehovah the 
Elohe of Abraham ; and he will the more easily con- 
ceive, in some degree, of the enormity of the insult and 
provocation offered by the partisans of the rival coun- 
terfeit system, in erecting altars, offering sacrifices, and 
1 lowing themselves down before molten images as re- 
presentatives of the great antagonist intelligence ; or, as 
in the case of Aaron, Micah, Jeroboam and others, as re- 
presentatives of Jehovah. If the reader suppose himself 
to have witnessed the appalling demonstrations against 
the f;il><' system, in llic plagues of Egypt, at the Red 
Sea, at Mount Sinai, and in the wilderness, in connection 
with the visible presence, agency, and glory of the Mes- 
siah; or under a vivid impression of the reality and 
import oftb and wonders; to have been pres- 

ent a1 those periods and on those occasions when the 
defection of the Esraelites to image and Baa] worship 

peciallj marked and signally punished, his impres- 
sion of the nature of the antagonism, and the enormity 



244 THE MESSIAH 

of the provocation and insult, cannot fail to be height- 
ened. 

The apostle Paul, treating (Rom. i.) of the defection 
of men to idolatry, says, "they changed the glory of the 
incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible 
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping 
things:" meaning, it is presumed, that they ascribed to 
the images of those creatures — which they made and 
served as representatives of the created intelligence 
whom they worshipped — the attributes, perfections, and 
prerogatives which he had conspicuously and gloriously 
manifested in his works of creation and providence. 
"Whether the formation of such images was coeval with 
the earliest practice of idolatrous rites or not, may be a 
question. But in the selection of men, birds, and four- 
footed beasts as models of the forms of the images earliest 
employed in their idolatry, there is ground to presume 
that they copied or simulated the cherubic figures so 
familiar to the Israelites under the Levitical economy, 
and probably to the Church at all previous times, as a 
constituent of the instituted system of manifestation and 
instruction, from the appearance of the cherubim at the 
gate of Eden. That primeval appearance demonstrates 
that they were not borrowed from any institution or 
example of the idolaters ; and in so capital a point as 
that of instituting representative images in their an- 
tagonist system, they would be sure to counterfeit, and 
to pervert from its office and meaning in the true system, 
whatever would serve the purpose of craft and deception. 
In respect to "creeping things," they had in the serpent 
a prototype altogether their own, which, when the images 
previously mentioned had been adopted, and impiously 
consecrated to idolatry, might easily be brought into 



IX MIOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 245 

Parkhurst, under the word Cherubim, in his Hebrew 
Lexicon, describes no less than sixty examples in which 
heads or other parts resembling the cherubic figures are 
incorporated in the objects of idolatrous homage of dif- 
ferent heathen nations. 

Maimonides, as quoted by Parkhurst, says that the 
first idolaters regarded the heavenly bodies as messengers 
or mediators of a supreme, infinite, invisible Being. In 
the worship of those bodies, or rather of the mediating 
intelligence supposed to reside in them, either because 
they were often out of sight, or for other reasons, they 
selected representative creatures, chiefly of the species 
comprised in the four-faced cherubim, but sometimes 
of other species, and among them of the serpent, and at 
length of mineral and metallic images of such creatures. 

In a number of the examples cited by Parkhurst, the 
serpent, or the serpent's head, appears conspicuous; 
and particularly in idol forms representative of the sun 
or Baal. In most of the images, the human form pre- 
dominates; around which the serpent often appears 
entwined. The cherubic wings arc indifferently attached 
to the human and the leading animal forms, and to the 
serpent. The combinations, especially of heads, in these' 
representative images, strikingly suggest that the example 
of the cherubic feces was perverted to be the basis of the 
. and thai the serpent, when nol exhibited as a 
distinct and sole object of homage, was foisted in 
and superadded to the figures which were familiar in 
the original system of revealed religion. Inmost of the 
complex forms in which different animals are combined, 
reference appears to have been bad to the sun or Baal, 
i.e. to Satan, the supposed mediating intelligence resident 
in the sun. 

In a published account of two "sculptured in 



246 THE MESSIAH 

disinterred by Mr. Layard from the ruins of ancient 
h, and forwarded by him to Williams College, 
Mass., being supposed to have "been buried in the ruins 
of that city not less than twenty-five hundred years," 
and to be samples of the earliest "idols" instituted in 
that capital, the date of which is supposed to be about 
one hundred and thirty years after the deluge, the 
figure of one is described as "that of a man with wings 
caul an eagle's head and beak, well proportioned. The 
two wings, springing from the back of the shoulders, 
are gracefully spread." The other is a figure simply of 
a man, seven and a half feet in height. They are pro- 
nounced "perfect of their kind. The slabs on which 
they are sculptured are dark gypsum, such as are de- 
scribed as lining the walls of the rooms and passages of 
the ruin, which Layard regards as having constituted 
at once the temple and palace of the king. One- of the 
slabs is seven feet, and the other seven and a half feet 
high, and they are each three feet and two inches wide. 
The figures are the whole length of the slabs." 

Here is a manifest, and in all likelihood a surreptitious 
combination of two of the figures in the cherubic em- 
blem, which, without some prototype, and a prototype 
already associated with the religion which was to be 
renounced, perverted, and counterfeited, would not be 
likely to occur, or to be easily brought into use and 
favor. An existing and familiar prototype might be 
copied exactly— as altars, sacrifices, incense, and various 
rites appear to have been — or with some modifications, 
and yet be readily adopted. In this view it would be 
obvious to argue, that as Jehovah often appeared on 
earth in the similitude of man, and thereby taught and 
virtually anticipated his future predicted incarnation; 
and as that form was associated with others in the cher- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 247 

ubic emblem, therefore that emblem might be taken as 
representative of the Intelligence to be worshipped, and 
as teaching the doctrine of his incarnation not merely 
in the form and nature of man, but also in birds, four- 
footed beasts, and all other creatures brought into ex- 
istence by him. Such pantheism undoubtedly resulted. 
But had the first forms of images been wholly an 
original device of the idolaters, they would naturally 
have selected not complex, but simple ones. They 
would have copied nature. They would in all prob- 
ability have selected first the human form; but they 
would have taken that as it visibly appears, without a 
mysterious and inexplicable combination of inferior 
natures with it. 

Xext, they would very likely select the bird — the 
eagle — whose flight transcends the clouds, and whose 
eye endures the blaze of solar light ; and next, the most 
docile and most useful, and then the most powerful and 
sagacious quadrupeds ; in all instances, as is held by 
Warburton and others, and is highly probable in itself, 
employing images and pictures long before they idolized 
the animals themselves. 

A progress and an analogy of this kind — notwithstand- 
ing that the whole subject of idolatry, its origin, its 
nature, its rationale, its import as an antagonism to the 
i. andas involving the reason and an 
intelligible and ample justification of the jealousy, wrath, 
indignation, judgments, retributions, and finally of ex- 
tenninating vengeance against it, has been mystified 
and misrepresented, under the rabbinical and figurative 
systems formerly adverted to — might be traced, and in- 
definitely illustrated, by reference to the Sphinxes, Cen- 
taurs, Pans, &c, of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; 
the Brahmas, the Vishnus, the Sivas, and the incarna- 



248 THE MESSIAH 

tions and transmigrations of India, and the Boodism 
and Lamaism of the whole Eastern world. 

The notion of local deities, national gods, &c., implied 
the doctrine of incarnation, and was no doubt suggested 
by the Theophanies of the patriarchal history and the 
Theocracy of the Mosaic, administered by the Messen- 
ger Jehovah, locally present in the tabernacle in a cloud- 
like form, where he was inquired of in respect to 
things future, and held converse with Moses, Joshua, 
and their successors. In imitation, the devotees of 
Baal conceived of him as present in their temples, 
inhabiting the forms of their idols, and hearing their 
statements and requests. 

Thus Moses returned to Jehovah as present in the 
burning bush, and said, " Adonai ! wherefore," &c. 
Exod. v. 22. "And David the king came and sat before 
Jehovah, [i.e., in the tabernacle,] and said," &c. 1 Chron. 
xvii. 16. 

So, on the other hand, " The Philistines took Saul's 
head and his armor, and sent into the land of the Phil- 
istines round about, to carry tidings unto their idols and 
to the people. And they put his armor in the house 
of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of 
Dagon." 1 Chron. x. 9, 10. 

Mr. Layard, in his recent account of "Nineveh and 
its Remains," observes, that the sculptured walls which 
he explored continually exhibited forms corresponding 
to the description of the living creatures seen in vision 
by Ezekiel, (chap. i. ;) and also what he supposes may 
have represented the wheel spoken of in that descrip- 
tion — the former showing the face of a man, a lion, 
an ox, and an eagle ; and the latter, a winged circle 
or globe, hovering above the head of the king, as an 
emblem of the supreme deity of the Assyrian nation ; 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 249 

with a winged figure in the middle, representing the 
sun. The king, he adds, may, as in Egypt, have 
been regarded as the representative on earth of the 
deity, of whom the emblem is exhibited as above his 
head in battle, during his triumphs, and when he cele- 
brates the sacred ceremonies. The author, who sup- 
poses the station of Ezekiel by the river of Chebar to 
have been in the immediate vicinity of Nineveh, ab- 
surdly indicates that, "As the prophet had beheld the 
Assyrian palaces, with their mysterious images and gor- 
geous decorations, it is highly probable that, when 
seeking to typify certain Divine attributes and to de- 
scribe the Divine glory, he chose forms that were not 
only familiar to him, but to the people whom he ad- 
dressed, captives like himself in the land of Assyria, 
He chose the four living creatures, with four faces, 
four wings," &c. The forms which the prophet saw in 
vision assuredly did not depend upon his choice ; and 
if they had, he would not have represented the true 
God by forms borrowed from idolatry. Nor is it likely 
that the captives were admitted to the palaces of tneir 
Assyrian conquerors. These forms, on the contrary, 
having been familiar in the patriarchal system of re- 
vealed religion, had been simulated by the earliest 
idolaters. 

Bat the most comprehensive and striking illustrations 
of idolatry, as a studied, rival, antagonistic counterfeit 
of the revealed system and true worship, are to be de- 
rived from those symbols of the Apocalypse which 
relate to A.ntichrist; to the two-horned wild beast and 
the image— the great Antagonist, and his Papal agents 
under thai character; to his arrogation of the attri- 
!>)•>• negatives, rights, throne, dominion and hom- 
age of God the Mediator, assumption of his titles and 
11* 



250 THE MESSIAH 

office, and exercise of authority as lawgiver over his 
people ; and from those- symbols which relate to the 
fell and destruction of Great Babylon, and the impris- 
onment of " the ancient Serpent, who is the Devil and 
Satan ;" as those symbols are explained and rendered 
intelligible in "An Exposition of the Apocalypse, by 
David X. Lord ;" a work distinguished by its discovery 
of and adherence to scriptural interpretations of sym- 
bols, and by its originality in every respect. (See note 
A at the end.) 

The great fabric of pagan idolatry, as a rival system 
to the true religion, and a counterfeit Theocracy, com- 
bining the civil with the religious administration, was 
the organism through which the Arch-usurper carried 
on his rivalship in all the heathen nations down to the 
age of Constantine. Then, to meet the exigences of 
his case, in opposition to Christianity in the Eoman 
Empire, he made the ecclesiastical hierarchies in union 
with the civil government the medium of his rule. 
When the empire was divided, the eastern from the 
western portion, leaving the eastern under the dragon 
sway of preceding ages, he assumed for the western that 
of the wild beast and false prophet — the civil rnlers of 
the ten kingdoms and the Papal hierarchy. Under 
these organizations he has, in both divisions of that 
empire, continued to exhibit more boldly and arrogantly 
even than in the regions of ancient paganism, his usurp- 
ations of the Divine prerogatives ; warring against the 
Lamb, corrupting and opposing the propagation of the 
gospel, persecuting and slaughtering the saints ; and 
will continue that career till finally vanquished and 
imprisoned. The issue at the advent of the incarnate 
Word with the armies of heaven, the incarceration of 
the great Usurper, and the dejection of his followers 



EN" MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 251 

into the lake of fire, strikingly indicate the nature and 
purpose of his previous antagonism and rivalship. 
Prolonged and desperate as his rebellion and usurpation 
had been, extended and arrogant as were his pretensions 
and sway as god of this world, the mystery of his ini- 
quity is at length terminated by the exercise, through 
visible agencies, of Divine power over his person. (See 
note B.) 



CHAPTER XXII. 

On the question, How it has happened, since the origin of the Nieene 
Creed, that the Old Testament has been understood to ascribe the 
Creation, not to the Christ, but to the Father. 

Since the New Testament distinctly ascribes the 
work of creation to the official Person called the Logos 
and the Christ, and, in harmony with the Old, demon- 
strates his identity with Jehovah, Elohim, and the 
Messenger Jehovah, it may justly occasion surprise and 
deserve inquiry, how it has happened that the Old 
Testament has, both by Jews and Christians, so long 
and so generally been construed, as in our own and 
other modern translations, to ascribe those works, not 
to Him, personally or officially, but to the Father, or 
to the Deity irrespective of any personal distinctions or 
official relations. 

As preliminary to this inquiry, it may be observed, 
that the office which belonged to him in his delegated 
character was constituted before the creation of the 



252 THE MESSIAH 

world. That office included the redemption of his peo- 
ple, who were chosen in him before the creation. His 
relation to them, therefore, did not commence after the 
fall, nor after the creation. For his official work in- 
cludes the work of redemption ; and since those to be 
redeemed were before the creation chosen in him, what- 
ever in his mediatorial person, office and character be- 
longs to him as their Eedeemer, must have been consti- 
tuted prior to the work of creation. And since the 
works of creation and providence had, and continue to 
have, an intimate connection with the work of redemp- 
tion, and are in some things identical with that work, 
we must conclude that whatever belongs officially to his- 
person and character was constituted prior to the crea- 
tion ; and that the covenant transaction, in which the 
second person of the Trinity was appointed and under- 
took to be the Redeemer, comprised all that appertains 
to the constitution of his person and office as Mediator ; 
so that thenceforth he was in a capacity to act officially in 
his delegated character as Mediator, as truly and perfectly 
as at any subsequent period. The connection and con- 
sistency of the entire plan of creation, providence, and 
redemption, in its relations to him in the progress of its 
execution, require this conclusion ; and hence the par- 
ticularity and emphasis with which the apostles, in set- 
ting forth his prerogatives as Mediator and Eedeemer, 
for the conviction of those who saw him only as man, 
assert that he was in the beginning — i.e., in the dele- 
gated official character which they then ascribed to him ; 
that lie was before all things ; that by him all things 
con.sist ; that in the beginning he laid the foundation of 
the earth, created the heavens and the earth, brought 
into existence all creatures visible and invisible ; that 
he was in respect to the entire system the Alpha and 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 253 

Omega, First and Last. Their object required that all 
this should be believed of him in the official person and 
character in which for the suffering of death he ap- 
peared incarnate. It teas in no respect to their purpose to 
assert of him that as Divine, or in his Divine nature, he 
existed prior -to the creation, and exercised creative 
power. The whole question was as to the complex, 
delegated official person and character of him who visi- 
bly appeared, wrought miracles, and was called Jesus, 
the Christ. It is with reference to this that they assert 
his preexistence, ascribe to him the works of creation 
and providence, and declare him to be the only Media- 
tor between God and man — the only medium of ref- 
lations and intercourse between the invisible Deity and 
ires. 
This is what the apostate, idolatrous and infidel 
world, in subserviency to the great Adversary and his 
followers, have ever opposed. This is the question to 
be decided to the full and final conviction of the whole 
universe, in the battles described in Eev. xix. and xx. ; 
in the first of which the Mediator, in the person of 
Jesus, clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and called 
The Word of God, appears in his glory, and vanquishes 
the Arch-enemy and alibis adherents ; and in the second, 
fire from heaven devours his enemies of the human race, 
;iinl the Devil that deceived them is casl into the lake 
of fixe, to be tormented for ever and ever. Then, every 
will acknowledge tin- true character of this Per- 
TIk-ii will be solved the mystery concerning 
tli>' creation of all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent 
that unto tli.- principalities and powers in heavenly 
plight be known by the Church — i.e., by the re- 
demption of the Church, as comprising substantially -all 
the works of providence — the manifold wisdom of God, 



254 THE MESSIAH 

according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephes. iii. 

The great purpose of the works of creation, provi- 
dence and redemption is, to manifest the Divine perfec- 
tions to intelligent creatures ; so to instruct them in the 
knowledge of God, and so to disrjlay his righteousness 
and the nature and evil of sin, that they might discern 
the glorious excellency, holiness, loveliness, amiableness 
and beauty of the character revealed, and cordially love, 
obey and enjoy him for ever. This purpose is from the 
beginning executed by the Mediator, in the delegated 
character in which he appears at its consummation. 

His office, accordingly, placed him as the medium of 
all relations and communications between the invisible 
Deity and creatures ; and his official undertaking com- 
prised the works of creation, providence, and redemp- 
tion ; the manifestation of the Divine perfections ; the 
vindication of the Divine prerogatives, laws, and go- 
vernment; the redemption of lost men; the union, con- 
firmation and blessedness of all holy creatures under 
him as King, and the subjection and punishment of 
Satan, the fallen angels and wicked men. 

From the nature of intelligent creatures, and their 
relations to one another and to material objects, the exe- 
cution of this undertaking required a course of external 
and visible facts connected both with his and their 
agency. They were to be instructed both in respect to 
themselves and to him ; and as the visibility of their 
persons and acts was necessary to their instruction con- 
cerning one another, the visibility of his person and acts 
was necessary on the same account. 

It is evident that the Mediator has, officially, relations 
to the holy angels, not only as their Creator, but in 
other respects. They are required to worship him in 



IX MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 255 

that character, i. e., in the character in which he came 
into the world. Heb. i. 6. They are employed in ex- 
ecuting the measures of his mediatorial administration. 
Heb. i. 14. They attended his person on the occasion of 
his advent, his temptation, his sufferings and resurrec- 
tion, and join his people in their songs and praises, in 
view of his final triumph and exaltation. 

As Mediator, he is invested with all power in heaven 
and earth. All judgment is committed to him in that 
capacity, "because he is the Son of man," the official 
Person ; and we must conclude that his official work 
comprises all Divine operations relating to creatures. 

In the phraseology both of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, where God is represented as acting or speaking, 
the expression in most cases is such as would occur were 
there no distinction of persons in the Godhead, unless 
we understand, wherever the text does not in terms or 
in the nature of the subject indicate another reference, 
that the' appellations, Elohim, Jehovah, Messenger Je- 
hovah, &c., are employed to designate the Mediator, per- 
sonally and officially. But so understood, he stands 
forth the external representative, the visible image, the 
outward manifestation, the official agent, the messenger 
of the Father, and as such reveals Him ; and by the 
mission and cooperation of the Holy Spirit in the work 
of redemption, that Divine Person is made known. Tin' 
scheme respecting the creation and governing m of 
creatures being in the counsels of eternity assigned to 
P on, as the official agenl and messenger 
delegated and sent of the Father, it appertained to him 
to make known to creatures all thai they are to know 
of the being and perfections of iheOneGod and the 
distinction oi^persons inlth'e Godhead. 

Accordingly the Deity, without any special indication 



256 THE MESSIAH 

of personal or official relations, is often referred to under 
the terms Jehovah and Elohim, where the object re- 
quired only a distinction of divine from creature attri- 
butes or agency. In this way, in one class of passages, 
God is said to do the same things which in another 
class are expressly ascribed to the Messenger Jehovah, 
the Christ, the Word. 

But where a reference is made to any thing in the 
economy of redemption, or any thing involving official 
acts or relations, official titles are introduced, or a 
phraseology is employed, by which the intended mean- 
ing is expressed. The Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Spirit are clearly distinguished, or their personality, re- 
lations and agency are indicated by the nature of the 
things recorded, or by the connections in which they 
occur. 

It is in this view that we understand all those pas- 
sages in which the divine names and the official titles of 
the Mediator are interchangeably applied to the same 
Person. In all such cases the things affirmed are in 
other passages affirmed of the Messiah, under titles which 
exclusively belong to him. He is in this manner an- 
nounced in the Old Testament as Jehovah, the Elohe of 
Abraham, the Creator, &c. The patriarchs and pro- 
phets knew God, as manifested in him in his delegated, 
official, personal character. That they were enlightened 
in respect to the invisible Deity absolutely considered, 
and in respect to the distinction of Persons, is no more 
to be doubted than that they were enlightened as to the 
great Revealer. The sublime conceptions proper to 
this subject were undoubtedly so imparted, received, 
and cherished as to render the doctrine of mediation and 
of the delegated personal character of the Mediator an 
intelligible and practical doctrine. This may be infer- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 257 

red, not only from all that is recorded concerning the 
religion of the patriarchs, the sacrifices, prayers, types 
and symbols connected with their worship, bat also 
from the theory of the earliest idolatry, which was a 
rival system, and was based upon the idea of mediation 
between a supreme invisible Deity and creatures, and 
consisted in regarding as mediators created intelligences, 
supposed to reside in the planetary orbs, and in images 
or idols as their representatives. It is obvious, in- 
deed, from the nature of the case, that where any no- 
tion of mediation and a Mediator prevailed, and was 
indicated in the rites and institutions of worship, there, 
and, above all, under a S} r stem of revealed religion and 
acceptable worship, an apprehension more or less dis- 
tinct, enlarged and just of the invisible Deity, of the 
concealed as well as of the revealed God, must have been 
entertained. 

Nevertheless, concerning this subject much was re- 
served to be taught by the Mediator in his incarnate 
state, when the distinction of Persons in the Godhead 
and their official designations could be rendered plain 
by his visible personal acts, his verbal explanations, 
and the agency and gifts ascribed to the Holy Spirit. 
This was in accordance with the progress and analogy 
of revelation in other respects. Besides, we may well 
believe thai there fras originally, and during the M<>- 
Bftic period, extreme difficulty in instructing men on 
those high themes concerning the invisible and spi- 
ritual, a.- may I"- inferred from tiae rooted and lasting 
propensity of the Israelites to visible symbols and ma« 
Images, and from the Limited prevalence of the 
clearer inculcations of the gospel down to the present 
day. Men ilid not and d<> not like i" retail] <i'»l in 
their knowL 



258 THE MESSIAH 

Hence the language of our Saviour in teaching the 
Divine unity and spirituality, and the distinction, of- 
fices and relations of the Persons of the Godhead. He 
taught that God is a Spirit, invisible, infinite, eternal, 
unchangeable; of himself, that he came out from God; 
came forth from the invisible to the visible world; 
that he should withdraw from the visible to the in- 
visible, so as not to be seen ; that he should afterwards 
visibby reappear ; that God the Father sent him ; that 
the power which he exercised in his miracles was a 
divine attribute, and proved his divinity; that those 
who witnessed his miracles, witnessed the exercise of 
the power of the invisible Deity, which was the power 
of the Father who had sent him, as well as his own ; 
and therefore they saw the Father in the same works 
in which they saw him ; for in respect to their nature 
as divine, He and the Father were one. 

But even his disciples did not at first understand his 
meaning. " Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the 
Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have 
I been so long time with }-ou, and yet hast thou not 
known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen 
the Father." That is, I act officially, exercising the 
power of the Deity, which is delegated to me by the 
Father. He who sees in my works a demonstration of 
my personality and divinity, sees at the same time in 
those works the only outward and visible demonstra- 
tion that can be made to men of the personality and 
divinity of the Father. The power which I exercise 
is possessed by me in common with the Father, though 
personally and officially exercised by me. That power 
is a divine attribute, and in respect to it as an attribute, 
I and the Father are one. 

To confirm this instruction, he promises to do for 



IX MOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 259 

his disciples what they should ask of the Father in his 
name ; and informs them that he should leave them, as 
to his visible presence, and go the Father, and that he 
would manifest himself to them by the official personal 
agency of the Holy Spirit, whom the Father would 
send in his name, to dwell with them, be in them, show- 
them the things which respected himself, teach them 
all things, and bring all things to their remembrance. 
John xiv. 

Continuing to instruct them on this subject, in the 
two next chapters, he says, "When He, the Spirit of 
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. He 
shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall 
show it unto you. At that day ye shall ask in my 
name : and I say not that I will pray the Father for 
you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye 
have loved me, and have believed that I came out from 
< r. kL I came forth from the Father, and am come into 
the world : again, I leave the world and go to the 
Father. A little while, and ye shall not see me; and 
again a little while, and ye shall see me." Such was 
his mode of teaching the distinction of Persons in the 
Godhead — the doctrine of the Trinity. 

The apostles were slow to learn these truths con- 
cerning the divine Persons respectively, and their 
offices and relations. Tiny expected in the Messiah a 
temporal deliverer, who should assume the government 
of their nation, and continue personally and visibly 
among them. In certain respects they appear not to 
have understood his character till after his ascension, 
nor till after the Spirit bad enlightened and convinced 
them that the Christ who bad been crucified was in- 
deed tli'' Lord of glory, Jehovah, tin' Elohe of Abra- 
ham, in whom Abraham and David believed unto jus- 



260 THE MESSIAH 

tification. Being at length fully satisfied of this, they 
testified it to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, and 
subsequently, with overwhelming effect; for the people 
being also convinced and cut to the heart, cried, Men 
and brethren, what shall we do ? In their testimony to 
this end they declared to the Jews that Jesus whom 
they had crucified was both the Lord (Jehovah) and 
the Christ; and quoted David as saying concerning 
him, "I foresaw Jehovah always before me." 

Subsequently the apostles, more fully instructed in 
"the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of the 
Christ" Col. ii., more clearly distinguished the Persons 
of the Trinity in all that concerned their relations to 
the work of redemption ; though, conformably to the 
Hebrew usage, they often, as the context shows, de- 
signated the Mediator under the name of God, while 
they also by that name referred to the Father and to 
the one invisible Deity. Thus, speaking of the Christ, 
Paul says, "Who is over all, God blessed . for ever." 
Rom. ix. 5. Again: "There is one God, and one Me- 
diator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 
1 Tim. ii. 5. And, treating .of the economy of grace, 
and the gifts bestowed on the Church by the Redeemer, 
he says: "There is one Spirit, one Lord, one God and 
Father of all." Eph. iv. 4-6. See also the doxo- 
logies, and the formulas of grace and peace introduc- 
tory to the Epistles. 

These observations and references may, perhaps, 
sufficiently show the occasion there was for the reiter- 
ated statements, at the opening of the New Dispensa- 
tion, that no man had seen the Father, and that he was 
declared and made known only by the Son. The Jews, 
to whom these things were said, were familiar with the 
Scriptures which record the visible appearances of 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 261 

Jehovah, the Elohe of Abraham. The first thing, as 
has been observed, that was necessary, on his appear- 
ance in human nature, was to convince those who had 
seen and heard him that he was the same personally 
and officially as lie who appeared to and conversed 
and covenanted with the patriarchs, and dAvelt with 
the Church in the wilderness and in the first temple. 
He was accordingly from the first, by inspired di- 
rection, designated by names of the same import as the 
Jehovah and Immanuel of the earlier dispensation ; 
and he himself appealed to the ancient Scriptures, as 
testifying of him. The apostles referred to him as 
the Jehovah of the Old Testament ; and Stephen says, 
that Moses "was in the Church in the wilderness, with 
The Messenger who spoke to him in mount Sinai." 
Acts vii. 

The Shekina, and all visible Divine appearances, 
having long been discontinued, the Jews seem not to 
have expected any recurrence of the like, or of ana- 
logous interpositions. Their religion consisted in a 
formal observance of rites and traditions, and a blind 
reliance on their being descendants of Abraham ; and 
in the Messiah, whom they desired and expected, they 
1 only for a human chieftain, a temporal deliverer 
from the Roman yoke. Their notions of the Divine 
B iii'' invisible Deity, do not appear to have dif- 

fered essentially from those common to their descend- 
ants ever since. They appear, indeed, to have dege- 
nerated bo far from tli<' ancients, as to have retained 
no ideas of a distinction of Persons in the Godhead. 
When they spoke of God as their Father, they had 
reference only to the invisible Deity as their Creator. 
They were alii:'' destitute of the faith of Abraham and 
of all correct knowledge of Jehovah, the promised 



262 THE MESSIAH 

Seed, the Messenger, the personal Word. The com- 
mon people were as sheep without a shepherd, and 
their teachers as blind leaders of the blind. " We all, 
says Trypho, expect a Messiah to be born, that will be 
man of man." Brown's Justin Martyr, section 49. 

Evidences to almost any extent might be easily 
adduced to show that the Jews of our Saviour's time 
had generally, as a people, lost or perverted by their 
traditions the knowledge which their ancient pre- 
decessors possessed, were blind to the meaning of their 
own Scriptures, and were plunged in gross and in- 
veterate errors. 

Their errors soon began to be widely propagated by 
Judaizing teachers of Christianity, and by Gentile here- 
tics; and with respect to the teachings of the Old 
Testament concerning the Creator, the Messiah, me- 
diation, the Unity, Trinity, and other subjects, became at 
an early period extensively prevalent. The Gnosticism 
which, under Cerinthus and others, assailed the Jewish 
converts in the apostles' days, and was propagated 
during that and several succeeding ages, under many 
leaders, and with various modifications, was a corn- 
round of Oriental philosophy and Judaizing infidelity. 
To that, in its original form, succeeded, in the second 
century, the modifications of the Asiatic and Egyptian 
sects, and the heresies of the Monarchins, or Patri- 
passians ; the sects of Theodotus, Artemon, Hermo- 
gene- and others ; in the third, the Manichseans, the 
Sabellians, and the followers of Paul of Samosata; 
and in the fourth, the Arians, Semiarians, Pelagians, 
and others, which, with an occasional change of name, 
have come down to the present day, and constitute, in 
relation to the leading doctrines and object of the Holy 
Scriptures, one comprehensive heresy, of which the 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 263 

cardinal feature is a denial or derogation of what be- 
longs to the official Person, character, and works of the 
Mediator. In the controversies to which those heresies 
gave occasion, owing to the nature of the questions 
which were discussed, the character and objects of the 
panics brought into conflict, the want of familiarity 
with the theology of the Hebrew Scriptures on the 
part of the orthodox, Gentile controvertists ; owing to 
these and the like causes, the ascription, common in 
the patriarchal, Mosaic, and prophetic history, and 
in the first period of Christianity, of all the works 
of creation and providence to the official mediatorial 
Person, was gradually discontinued, and at length 
wholly dropped, even by those who believed in his 
divinity. 



264 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Continuation of the subject of the foregoing Chapter — Reference to the 
Heresies, respecting the Creator, of the three first and ensuing cen- 
turies. 

The heresy of the Gnostic philosophers, like that 
of the geologists of the present day, had to do with 
the question of a creator and creation as its starting 
theme. " They boasted," says Mosheim, " of being 
able to restore mankind to the knowledge of the true 
and supreme Being, [i. e., the Deity, as superior to the 
evil being, regarded by them as creator,] which had 
been lost in the world, and foretold the approaching 
defeat of the evil principle, i. e., the Devil, to whom 
they attributed the creation of this globe," Their TJni- 
tarianism, like that of later times, could tolerate the notion 
of divine creatures, a created creator; but they could not 
allow that such a world as this was or could have been 
created by the true Supreme Being. 

" The Gnostic doctrine," adds the author above 
quoted, " concerning the creation of the world by one 
or more inferior beings of an evil, or at least an im- 
perfect nature, led that sect to deny the divine au- 
thority of the books of the Old Testament, whose ac- 
counts of the origin of things so palpably contradicted 
this idle fiction. Through a frantie aversion to those 
books, they lavished their encomiums upon the Serpent, 
the first author of sin, and held in veneration some 
of the most impious and profligate persons of whom 
mention is made in sacred history." 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 265 

Those boasters furnished a notable example for all 
pretenders to philosophy and rationalism in religion, 
who take reason for their guide, and deem it compe- 
tent to determine what it is proper for the Supreme 
Being to do ; who or what kind of being it is most 
proper should be the creator of such a world as this ; 
at what time, in what manner, of what materials, and 
for what ends the world should be created; and whether 
the Mosaic record should be wholly rejected, or only 
so far as this subject, that of miracles, inspiration, the 
universality of the Deluge, the doctrine of vicarious 
atonement, and a few others, are concerned. 

The controlling influence to which the heretics and 
theorists of the first centuries were manifestly subject, 
was that of their philosophy. Assuming that their 
philosophical dogmas were true and founded in the 
nature of things, they argued, as do our modern geo- 
logists, from their assumptions, that the Scriptures must 
be consistent with them ; and since they were not 
taught in Scripture, nor consistent with the apparent 
import of the language of Scripture, they found it ne- 
cessary to imagine an occult, allegorical, tropical, or 
spiritual meaning, couched under the forms of the 
natural language. Thus Origen held " that, under 
cover of the words, phrases, images, and narratives 
of the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit had concealed the 
internal reasons and grounds of things; that in the 
; Eoly Writ [so he denominates the proper sense 
of the words] there was a soul, [a recondite sense,] and 
that this bou] exhibits, to careful contemplators of it, 
as it were in a mirror, the causes, connections, and 
dependences of both human and Divine wisdom." 
Mur. lock's Commentaries of Mosheim, II. 156, 165. 
He took up M the ancient doctrine of the Pharisees and 
12 



266 THE MESSIAH 

Essenees, that of a double sense in Holy Scripture;" 
and to confirm his philosophical notions by the author- 
ity of the sacred oracles, by "bending the sense of 
Scripture to suit his purpose, eliminated from the 
Bible whatever was repugnant to his favorite opinions." 
Ibid. 165. 

" It is very certain that the Jews, and among them 
the Pharisees especially, and Essenees, before the birth 
of our Saviour, believed that in the language of the 
Bible, besides the sense which is obvious to the reader, 
there is another more remote and recondite, concealed 
under the words of Scripture." Murdock's Commen- 
taries of Mosheim, II. 166. 

Mosheim's account of the doctrines of Cerinthus, a 
Gnostic Jew, who, about the close of the first century, 
appeared as the leader of those who sought to merge 
Christianity in Judaism, indicates the confusion and 
uncertainty which then, probably to a great extent, 
perplexed the minds of the Jewish and Gentile pro- 
selytes to the Christian faith. " He taught that the 
Creator of this world, whom he considered also as the 
sovereign and lawgiver of the Jewish people, was a 
being endowed with the greatest virtues, and derived 
his birth from the Supreme God ; [thus conceding that 
the Jehovah of the Old Testament was the same as the 
Christ ;] that this being fell, by degrees, from his native 
virtue, and his primitive dignity ; [referring, no doubt, 
to the withdrawment of the Messenger Jehovah, the 
Creator, with the visible Shekina, from the temple, and 
his apparent abandonment of the Jewish people, as 
they themselves considered ;] that the Supreme God, in 
consequence of this, determined to destroy his empire, 
[meaning, probably, that as he no longer appeared as 
the protector of the Jews, but rather as their enemy, 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 267 

he was to be superseded,] and sent upon earth for this 
purpose one of the ever-happy and glorious ceons, 
whose name was Christ; that this Christ chose for his 
habitation [alluding to the doctrine, then extensively 
prevalent, of the metempsychosis, or transmigration 
of one being into another] the person of Jesus, a man 
of the most illustrious sanctity and justice, the son of 
Joseph and Mary, and descending in the form of a 
dove, entered into him while he was receiving the bap- 
tism of John in the waters of Jordan ; that Jesus, after 
his union with Christ, opposed himself with vigor to 
the God of the Jews, [i. e., He whom the Jews originally 
worshipped as their Creator and Lawgiver, the Angel 
Jehovah, now fallen,] and was, by his instigation, 
seized and crucified by the Hebrew chiefs ; that when 
Jesus was taken captive, [i. e., by the instigation of 
Jehovah the Creator,] Christ ascended up on high, so 
that the man Jesus alone was subjected to the pains 
of an ignominious death. Cerinthus required of his 
followers that they should worship the Father of Christ, 
even the Supreme God, in conjunction with the Son; 
[i. e., the ceon whom he calls Christ ;] that they should 
abandon the Lawgiver of the Jews, whom he [from his 
knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, or of the Chaldee 
paraphrases] looked upon as the Creator of the world; 
thai they should retain a part of the law given by 
Moses, but should, nevertheless, employ their principal 
attention and care to regulate their lives by the pre- 
cepts of Christ," |i. c., the glorious a-on.] To en- 
em to this, "he promised the resurrection 
of the body;" [Le., though he denied the death, and 
therefore the resurrection of Christ, he held to that 
<>r man a1 the second coming;] and held "that Christ 
will one day return upon earth, and, renewing bis 



268 THE MESSIAH 

former union with the man Jesus, [i. e., by then raising 
him from the dead,] will reign with his people in the 
land of Palestine during a thousand years." Cent. I. 
part 2, chap. 5, sec. 16. There can be no mistake as to 
the source of what is correct in this creed, nor as to the 
state of mind in which its stupendous errors were con- 
ceived and propagate J. 

Marcion, Basilides, and others among the Gnostic 
leaders of the Asiatic and Egyptian sects in the second 
century, held, in respect to a creator and creation, 
sentiments very similar to those of Cerinthus. The 
Yalentinians, a very numerous sect, were taught by 
Valentine their chief,* as is recorded in Mosheim, "That 
the Creator of this world" whom, in common with most 
of the heretics of that period, he took to be a creature, 
"came by degrees to imagine himself to he God aloiie, or, at 
least, to desire that mankind should consider him as 
such." He therefore " sent forth prophets to the Jew- 
ish nation, to declare his claim to the honor that is 
due to the Supreme Being." The Patripassians asserted 
the unity of God in such a manner as to exclude all 
distinction of Persons ; and in this respect they were 
imitated by the Sabellians of the ensuing century. 

The leading features of nearly all the heresies of the 
first three centuries, especially those which were widely 
diffused and long perpetuated, whether invented by 
minds imbued by the Oriental philosophy or with 
hereditary Jewish opinions and prejudices related to 
the Creator and the works of creation. The best of 
them were in that particular, for substance, like the 
heresy of Arius in the fourth century, who taught 
"that the Son was the first and noblest of these beings, 
whom God the Father had created out of nothing, and 
was the instrument by whose subordinate operation 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 269 

the universe was made." The Council of Nice, con- 
vened in 325 to suppress this heresy, appears scarcely 
to have checked its progress.; and during the pro- 
tracted discussions and contests which ensued, and 
which agitated both the eastern and western divisions 
of the Church, there is probably no single instance of a 
simple scriptural statement respecting the Trinity, and 
the Person and work of the Mediator, except in the case 
of such as dissented and seceded from the Established 
Church, and were persecuted by all parties in that 
Church. The attention of those whom the Councils 
called orthodox, in distinction from heretics, was ab- 
B< 'il"''l by attempts to explain the inexplicable questions 
in controversy. . They sought in this way to answer 
and confound their opponents. The heretics no where 
in these controversies bring into view any thing scrip- 
tural, any thing better than Paganism, with respect to a 
Mediator; nor could they, consistently with the nature 
of the dogmas and opinions which they contended for. 

The disciples of the reformed Magianism of Zoro- 
aster ascribed the creation to the one supreme, in- 
visible Deity, who was to be worshipped directly, not 
through images, nor through a Mediator, nor any inter- 
mediate agi 

The Gentile Gnostics, in distinction from Cerinthus- 
and other Judaizers, in their attempts to subordinate 
Christianity to their system — which taughl that all evil 
resided in and proceeded from matter, and therefore 
thai the world could nol have been created by a good 
being— ascribed the creation to a created evil being, 
il principle, Satan. They therefore rejected the 
Old Testamenl as irreconcilable with this system. 
Pri<»r to the Advent, they worshipped Satan as creator, 
and as having chief control in the whole course of 



270 THE MESSIAH 

tilings in the world, and being an over-matcli for the 
antagonist, good principle : and honoring him in this 
war. they held Cain, and his other most conspicuous 
followers and supporters, in the highest veneration. 
Yearning for some relief from the unmitigated and 
intolerable miseries which they suffered in their warfare 
with their bodies, which, as matter, they deemed the 
seat of corruption, they hailed the appearance of the 
good principle in Christianity, supported as it was by 
demonstrations of resistless power, as likely to defeat 
the antagonist evil principle, the Devil, to whom they 
still ascribed the creation of the world. Instead of 
longer worshipping him, therefore, they now taught 
that the Supreme Deity, the Creator of the Devil, v:as to he 
worshipped. This was the doctrine which undoubtedly had 
been lost to all idolaters, and which they now promised to 
restore. 

Cerinthus, in his attempts to combine Gnosticism 
and Christianity with Judaism and the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures, as he understood them, maintains, not that the 
world was created by the supreme, invisible Deity, for 
he did not so understand those writings, but that the 
Being to whom Moses ascribes the creation and govern- 
ment of the world (and whom he calls Jehovah") was 
a derived, begotten, created being, and therefore liable 
to degenerate; that though originally endowed with 
the greatest virtues, he fell ; (he had forsaken the Jews, 
and they had renounced him;) that his Creator, the Su- 
preme Deity, had therefore determined to destroy his 
empire, (the dominion and rule which he exercised, 
prior to his quitting the temple, and also after becom- 
ing, in their opinion, the enemy of the Jews;) that the 
Christ, so far from being the same person, Son of the 
Supreme Deity, and Creator, was a wholly different 



EN AIOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 271 

being in all respects, a created being, sent expressly to 
supersede and destroy the Creator and Jewish lawgiver ; 
that, taking possession of the person of Jesus, he set 
himself vigorously to oppose Jehovah the Creator, who, 
in self-defense, contrived to induce the Jews to crucify 
the man Jesus, the Christ in the mean time having for- 
saken him. Accordingly, he taught his followers that 
they "should abandon the Lawgiver of the Jews, whom 
he looked upon as the Creator of the world," i. e., the 
Jehovah of the Old Testament; and that they should 
worship the Supreme Deity as the Father of the iEon 
whom he called Christ, in conjunction with that Christ, 
or iEon, assuming him to be the same with him whom 
the Christians called the Christ and the Son ; conform- 
ably to his notion that Christ, having entered the man 
Jesus at his baptism, withdrew from him before his 
death. He denied his resurrection, and was, very prob- 
ably, a disciple of the false teacher referred to and 
refuted in Paul's argument, 1 Cor. xv. 

To show that the Oriental philosophy, which com- 
prehended the leading principles of the false, in op- 
position to the revealed system of religion, and that 
the early heresies, which, being founded on the Oriental 
philosophy, passed under the imposing title of Gnosti- 
cism, ascribed the creation and government of the 
world to Satan, the following quotations are made from 
Mosheim's Commentaries, Cent. I., sec. 60, 61: 

■• 1 ly none of its adversaries or corrupters was Christi- 
anity, l'i« »in its firsl rise, more seriously injured; by 
none was the Church more grievously lacerated, and 
rendered Less attractive to the people, than by those 
who v.'-n- for making the religion of Christ accommo- 
date itself to the principles of the Oriental philosophy 
respect i n. g the Deity, the origin of the world, the na- 



272 THE MESSIAH 

ture of matter and the human soul. We allude to 
those who, from their pretending that they were able 
to communicate to mankind, at present held in bond- 
age by the Architect of the world, a correct knowledge 
(gnosis) of the true and ever-living God, were commonly 
stvled Gnostics. Intoxicated with a fondness for these 
opinions, not a few of the Christians were induced to 
secede from all association with the advocates for the 
sound doctrine, and to form themselves into various 
sects, which, as time advanced, became daily more 
extensive and numerous, and were for several ages 
productive of very serious inconveniences and evils 
to the Christian commonwealth ... It is by no means 
difficult to point out the way in which these people 
contrived to make the religion of Christ appear to be 
altogether in unison with their favorite system of disci- 
pline. All the philosophers of the East, whose tenets, 
as we have seen, were, that the Deity had nothing at 
all to do with matter, the nature and qualities of which 
they considered to be malignant and poisonous; that 
the body was held in subjection by a being entirely 
distinct from Him to whom the dominion over the ra- 
tional soul belonged; that the world, and all terrestrial 
bodies, were not the work of the Supreme Being, the 
Author of all good, but were formed out of matter by a 
nature either evil in its origin, or that had fallen into 
a state of depravity ; and lastly, that the knowledge of 
the true Deity had become extinct, and that the whole 
race of mankind, instead of worshipping the Father 
of Light and Life, and source of every thing good, 
universally paid their homage to the Founder and 
Prince of this nether world, or to his substitutes and 
agents: I say all these looked forward with earnest 
expectation for the arrival of an extraordinary and 



IX MIOSES AXD THE PEOPHETS. 273 

eminently powerful Messenger of the Most High, who, 
they imagined, would deliver the captive souls of men 
from the bondage of the flesh, and rescue them from 
the dominion of those genii by whom they supposed 
the world and all matter to be governed ; at the same 
time communicating to them a correct knowledge of 
their everlasting Parent, so as to enable them, upon the 
dissolution of the body, once more to regain their long- 
lost liberty and happiness. An expectation of this 
kind even continues to be cherished by their descend- 
ants of the present day. Some of these philosophers, 
then, being struck with astonishment at the magnitude 
and splendor of the miracles wrought by Christ and 
hia apostles, and perceiving that it was the object of 
our Lord's ministry both to abrogate the Jewish law — 
a law which they conceived to have been promulgated 
by the Architect or Founder of the world himself, or 
by the chief of his agents — and also to overthrow those 
■ I' the nations whom they regarded as genii, placed 
over mankind by the same evil spirit; hearing him, 
moreover, invite the whole world to join in the worship 
of the one Omnipotent and only true God, and profess 
that he came down from heaven for the purpose of re- 
deeming the souls of men, and restoring them to liberty, 
were induced to believe that he was that very Mes- 
Benger for whom they looked, the Person ordained by 
the Everlasting Father, to destroy the dominion of the 
founder of this world as well as of the genii who pre- 
Bided over it; to separate Hgh1 from darkness, and to 
delivei the souls of men from that bondage to which 
they were subjected, in consequence of their connection 
with material bodies. To various articles propounded 
in the Christian code al points of belief, they 

utterly refused their assent: such, for instance, as that 
12* 



274 THE MESSIAH 

which attributes the creation of the world to the Su- 
preme Being, and those respecting the divine origin 
of the Mosaic law, the authority of the Old Testament, 
the character of human nature, and the like: for it 
would have amounted to nothing short of an absolute 
surrender of the leading maxims of the s} r stem to 
which they were devoted, had they not persisted in 
maintaining that the creator of this world was a being 
of a nature vastly inferior to the Supreme Deity, the 
Father of our Lord, and that the law of Moses was not 
dictated by the Almighty, but by this same inferior 
being, by whom also the bodies of men were formed 
and united to souls of ethereal mould, and under whose 
influence the various penmen of the Old Testament 
composed whatever they have left us on record." Again, 
"according to the Gnostic scheme, an absolute and en- 
tire dominion over the human race, and the globe we 
inhabit, is exercised by the founder of the material 
world, a being of unbounded pride and ambition, who 
makes use of every means in his power to prevent 
mankind from attaining to any .knowledge of the true 
God." 

It is too plain to require a comment, that the fallen 
creature to whom, in this religious system, the creation 
of the world is ascribed, and to whom the nations 
universally paid their homage, was Satan; and that 
the genii, his subordinates, were the angels who fell 
with him. On the other hand, the Divine Messenger 
expected as the antagonist and conqueror of Satan, 
could be no other than the Messenger Jehovah, ap- 
pointed and sent by the Everlasting Father. 

Mosheim, in his Commentaries, Introduction, chap. 
2, observes, that the Jewish religion, at the time of our 
Saviour's appearance, "was contaminated by errors of 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 275 

the most flagrant kind; even in the service of the 
temple itself, numerous ceremonies and observances, 
drawn from the religious worship of heathen nations, 
had been introduced and blended with those of Divine 
institution; and in addition to superstitions like these 
of a public nature, many erroneous principles, probably 
either brought from Babylon and Chaldea by the an- 
cestors of the people at their return from captivity, or 
adopted by the thoughtless multitude in conformity to 
the example of their neighbors the Greeks, the Syrians, 
and the Egyptians, were cherished and acted upon in 
private." 

Again, "To the prince of darkness, with his associ- 
ates and agents, they attributed an influence over the 
world and mankind of the most extensive nature ; so 
predominant, indeed, as scarcely to leave a superior 
degree of power even with the Deity himself." 

"At the time of Christ's appearance, many of the 
Jews had imbibed the principles of the Oriental phi- 
losophy respecting the origin of the world, and were 
much addicted to the study of a recondite sort of learn- 
ing derived from thence, to which they gave the name 
of C'lbLala. The founders of several of the Gnostic 
Beets, all of whom, we know, were studious to make 
the Christian religion accommodate itself to the princi- 
ples of the ancient Oriental philosophy, had been oriijin- 
ii II 'i -A W8 t and exhibited in their tenets a strange mix- 
of the doctrines of Moses, Christ, and Zoroaster. 
This is of itself sufficient to prove that many of the 
Jews were in no small degree attached to the opinions 
of the ancienl Persians and Chaldeans. Such of them 
a-' had adopted the.-, irrational principles would not 
admit that tin- wmld was created by God, but sub- 
stituted, in the place of the Deity, a celestial genius 



276 THE MESSIAH 

endowed with vast powers ; from whom, also, they 
maintained that Moses had his commission, and the' 
Jewish law its origin. To the coming of the Messiah, 
or deliverer, promised by God to their fathers, they 
looked forward with hope, expecting that he would 
put an end to the dominion of the being whom they 
thus regarded as the maker and ruler of the world."' 
Mosheim, Int., Com., chap. 2. 

It would be alike tedious and useless much further to 
multiply citations from the history of Gnostic and other 
Oriental writers, to show that the nations represented 
by those writers regarded Satan as the creator of the 
world and god of their idolatry. 

" Beyond that vast expanse, refulgent with everlast- 
ing light, which was considered as the immediate habi- 
tation of the Deity and those natures which had been 
generated from him, these philosophers placed the seat 
of matter, where, according to them, it had lain from all 
eternity, a rude, undigested, opaque mass, agitated by 
turbulent, irregular motions of its own provoking, and 
nurturing, as in a seed-bed, the rudiments of vice and 
every species of evil. In this state it was found by a 
genius or celestial spirit of the higher order, who had 
been either driven from the abode of the Deity for some 
offense, or commissioned by him for the purpose, and 
who reduced it into order, and gave it that arrangement and 
fashion which the universe now icears. Those who spoke 
the Greek tongue were accustomed to refer to this 
creator of the world by the name of Demiurgus. Matter 
received its inhabitants, both men and other animals, 
from the same hand that had given to it disposition and 
symmetry. . . . When all things were thus completed, 
Demiurgus, revolting against the great First Cause of 
every thing, the all- wise and omnipotent God, assumed to 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 277 

himself the exclusive government of this new state, which he 
apportioned out into provinces or districts ; bestowing 
the administration and command over them on a num- 
ber of genii or spirits of inferior degree, who had been 
his associates and assistants." Mosheim, Intro., sec. 34. 
"In the following respects, they [the Gnostic sects] 
appear to have been all of one mind; namely, that in 
addition to the Deity, matter, the root and cause of" 
every thing evil and depraved, had existed from all 
eternity ; that this corrupt matter had not been reduced 
into order by the Supreme and all-benevolent Deity, 
but by a nature of a far inferior rank ; that the founder 
of the world, therefore, and the Deity, were beings be- 
tween whom no sort of relationship whatever existed." 
Ibid., 1., sec. Qo. 

These representations of the sentiments of the Orientals 
may suffice to show that the Arch-apostate claimed to 
be the creator and prince of this world, and led his 
followers to adopt that usurped and impious claim as a 
primary article of their faith, and to worship and serve 
him accordingly. Nor does it otherwise seem possible 
to account for the origin and adoption, at a very early 
period, of the doctrine of two antagonist principles 
or powers, one as the creator of the world and author 
of nil evil, the other as an ineffectually counteracting 
agent of good. 

Divested of Eastern figure, and of bias from "Western 
notions of mythology and polytheism, the Oriental doc- 
fcrine plainly exhibits Satan as the creator and ruler of 
this w<nld, and, on that ground, as exacting the homage 
of its population. This primary arrogation on his part 
is the ground of all idolatry, and of the great heresies 
of Gnostic and Popish origin. Accordingly, the 
antagonism which, since the fall, has been in progress 



278 THE MESSIAH 

in the view of the whole universe, and of which the 
termination is to fill the hosts of heaven with adoring 
and rapturous ecstacy, and the ransomed Church with 
ceaseless exultation and praise, exhibits the great Ad- 
versary as chief of a rebel faction of his own species, 
instigating the original revolt, and ruling as his vassals 
the race of man, arrogating the titles and prerogatives 
.of the Creator and Sovereign of the world, and persist- 
ing in his rebellion, usurpation, and rivalship, till finally 
vanquished and imprisoned, his purposes defeated, and 
his works destroyed ; and at length displays, on the other 
hand, the majesty and power, the titles, prerogatives, 
and rights, the supremacj^, rectitude and glory of the 
self-existent Creator, Proprietor and rightful Sovereign, 
effectually reasserted, vindicated, and universally ac- 
knowledged. 

In these earliest and most prevalent systems of 
heresy are contained the perversions and false doc- 
trines against which the contemporaries and the im- 
mediate and later orthodox successors of the apostles 
were called to contend; and they present in bold re- 
lief the points brought into controversy, as they are 
indicated in the creeds and decrees of Councils specially 
convened to condemn and suppress them. 

To meet the doctrine advanced by the earliest and 
adopted by the later heretics, that the creation and 
government of the world was the work of a creature, 
supposed by some to be the Evil One; by others, a 
being originally good, but afterwards degenerate; by 
some, to be one of two rival creatures ; by others, to 
have derived his birth from the Supreme God ; they, 
rejecting with abhorrence such ideas of the Creator, 
and all the notions associated with them, and impelled 
by their philosophy, as well as by their knowledge and 



IN MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 279 

regard for the Scriptures, to assert in the plainest man- 
ner that the Creator of all things is himself uncreated — 
God, in distinction from creatures — planted themselves 
upon that as an impregnable position. 

But they had at the same time to maintain the doc- 
trines of the Trinity and the Divinity of Christ. They 
were to assert the Deity of Christ, whom the heretics 
held to be a creature, and yet ascribed to him the works 
of creation. It is at least natural to suppose that, to 
avoid giving the heretics any advantage in popular 
argument, and to use expressions importing the broad- 
est contrast to theirs, they at first ascribed the creation to 
God, without any reference to the distinction of Persons 
in the Godhead; or, to maintain that doctrine at the 
same time, and to meet the point in question as to the 
Deity of the Creator, they ascribed the works of crea- 
tion and providence to God the Father. Whatever 
may have been the process, this was the result. It is 
not unlikely that, at the date of the Apostles' and the 
Nicene Creeds, there were many who at length joined in 
adopting them, who from ignorance, or from the sway 
of heretical influences, were greatly confused upon 
these subjects ; many, more or less perverted by Gn< >s1 ic 
and Judaizing dogmas; many who saw no possibility 
of maintaining the doctrines which they held concern- 
■ Father, as the Father of Christ the Son by 
eternal generation, and as the fountain of all authority 
and power, without specifically ascribing to him the 
work's of creation and providence; many who, relying 
on the doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son, as 
tin- mosl conclusive and unanswerable proof of his 
Divinity, confined their attention to that, and saw no 
• ilii\ of meeting and counteracting the dogmas of 



280 THE MESSIAH 

Cerinthus, or of other heretics, if they ascribed the 
creation to the Son. 

It must be considered that the terms which they em- 
ployed were adopted expressly to meet the growing and 
fatal errors which infested the Church ; and that they 
had, at the date of the Nicene Creed, a most powerful 
motive to concession and accommodation for the sake 
of unity, in the notion already prevalent concerning 
schism — defection from the faith of the dominant or 
Catholic Church, or separation from that body on that 
account — as a mortal sin. 

It was pointedly to their purpose to maintain, in op- 
position to Cerinthus, that the Christ was the Son of 
God, and the only being designated by that title ; and 
equally to their purpose, in opposition to Arius, to main- 
tain that he was not created. They were to meet these 
points somehow, or accomplish nothing against the 
most formidable heresies. They hit upon a phraseology 
which, if it be not wholly unintelligible to mortals, was 
probably then deemed to be unanswerable, in the asser- 
tion that he was the Son by eternal generation ; begotten, 
not made, &c. 

The language of the creeds, hereafter more particularly 
referred to, is presumed to have become gradually fa- 
miliar to the opposers of heresy before it was embodied 
in those formularies. They express in a condensed form 
the sentiments and terms by which the leading contro- 
vertists repelled the dominant heresies of the time. 

It is worthy of a passing notice, that from the origin 
of the Assyrian empire down to the Christian era, the 
sway, over the whole Pagan world, of the Oriental 
doctrines, embodied in the Sabian, Magian, Brahmini- 
cal, Lamaist, Boodhist, and other systems, laid the 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 281 

foundation and prepared the way for the rise and spread 
of the Mohammedan imposture, after those doctrines had, 
by the pi opagation of Christianity, been in some degree 
intercepted and modified within, and in some directions 
beyond, the limits of the Roman empire. The theory of 
the system of Mohammed, like that ascribed to Zoroaster, 
which aimed to unite the Sabians, who worshipped 
images, and the Magians, who refused them, with the 
Jews of Babylon and its provinces after they had re- 
nounced idolatry and the doctrine of mediation, in- 
rolved a union of the same school of Jews in the 
seventh century, with the nominal but already apostate 
churches (churches characterized by Gnostic heresies 
and Pagan corruptions) of Babylonia, Syria, Asia Minor, 
Egypt, Northern Africa, Spain, &c. 

Hence the first and, with respect to the Divine Being, 
the only article of the Mohammedan faith is that of 
THE 1 ' N it v. For this, the Jews, the judaizing professors 
of Christianity, the Cerinthians, Arians, &c., were pre- 
pared; and in like manner for the exclusion of the 
doctrine of mediation and the consequent proscription 
of images and sacrificial offerings. 

Who that considers the character and mission of 
Mohammed, as depicted Rev. ix. 1-12, and illustrated by 
the histories of his time, ran fail to regard him as, in the 
hands of the greal Adversary, one of the most extraordi- 
nary visible agents of his antagonism. With no pre- 
liminary indications; like a meteor fallen to the earth, 
he suddenly appears on the scene. Ee receives the 
key and opens the abyss of darkness. The blinding 
smoke of the pil ascends, and generates a locusl army 
with tli" power of scorpions, led on by Satan as their 
king, "whose came in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in 
Greek, the Destroyer." A- vi able bead of the apo bate 



282 THE MESSIAH 

faction, lie subdues, and with enduring chains of mental 
darkness manacles and holds fast the Eastern empire : 
while, in the Western, essentially the like results, under 
the same leadership, are accomplished by the head of 
the Papal hierarchy. 

These great systems of influence and control, by 
which, in the Eastern world, the Arch-deceiver held the 
human mind in bondage, required and depended on 
implicit, unquestioning faith. Thus, throughout the 
Eoman empire prior to the Advent, and subsequently 
in the eastern division, under the Mohammedan, and in 
the western, under the Popish faith. 

The shock of the Eeformation awaked and roused 
up the mind of western Europe, and brought new an- 
tagonist influences into operation, which, by recalling 
attention to the Scriptures as the only rule of faith, by 
giving prominence to the cardinal doctrines of redemp- 
tion, and by a revival of learning, threatened wholly to 
subvert the dominion of Popish superstition and impos- 
ture. 

This aspect of his affairs required a new course of 
tactics on the part of the great Adversary, by which the 
tendencies, intellectual, speculative, philosophical, scien- 
tific, which were rising and spreading, might be so 
perverted as to counteract the objects of the Eeforma- 
tion, and, in place of the former outward and vulgar 
superstition, to give sway to infidelity ; a course of 
tactics adapted to the intellects of men, stimulated to 
inquiry and earnest in the pursuit of knowledge ; a 
course by which the peculiar doctrines of the Scriptures 
and of the Eeformation, and the reality of inspiration 
and of miracles, might be explained away, and by 
which, in effect, the arrogations of the Arch«deceiver 
and the Pope, of lordship over men's minds, and over 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 288 

the province of theological dogma, together with an 
ascendency of influence in the seats of intellectual and 
physical science, might be imputed and transferred to 
Human Keasox. 

Reason, thus deified and installed as in a pontifical 
chair, 'progressively developed its hierarchs and suffra- 
gans in the seats of learning, secular and sacred, in 
every part of the Protestant world. Witness the rise, 
progress and results of this course of tactics in Germany 
itself. Witness the infidel and atheistic fruits of this 
homage of reason, in the departments of German meta- 
physics, theologj r , criticism, physical science, &c. Wit- 
ness the stealthy, insidious, infectious inculcation and 
progress of this infidelity, in the same departments, on 
this side of the Atlantic, — in some universities and 
colleges under cover of the principles and discoveries 
of natural science; in some theological schools, in the 
name of the science of criticism, interpretation, &c. ; 
in lyceums and halls of popular resort, by scientific 
lectures; and at the doors and in the face of all, b}^ the 
ceaseless issues of the press. 

any observer within the precincts of Protestantism 
account, upon any other view of the subject, for the 
ess a nd effects of this infection, with its intuitional, 
oonceptional, subjective and transcendental cant; for 
anating and transforming power overmen pre- 
viously trained in schools of an opposite character; for 
its leavenous working in scientific and ecclesiastical fra- 
ternities, or its popular effects as administered orally 
and by the press? Blusl we not suppose a subtle and 
i'il agency behind the scenes, as truly as in the 
case of Gnosticism, Mohammedanism, Romanism, M.-r- 
monism? Bas no1 experience shown that a teacher 
from the pulpit or from a theological or literary chair, 



284 THE MESSIAH 

who, notwithstanding his knowledge of the Scriptures 
and of their peculiar doctrines, begins to exhibit signs 
of his conversion to German rationalism in any respect; 
to pantheism, idealism, neology, infidelity under any of 
its designations; soon becomes confident, pertinacious, 
progressive, and at length is recognized as having ceased 
to be restrained either by his former principles and pro- 
fessions, or by the authority of the sacred oracles ? In 
short, if the Evil One is still abroad, seeking whom he 
may devour; if he is what the Scriptures represent him 
to be ; and if, through the great organisms and mediums 
of domination above referred to, he still carries on his 
warfare, we must needs conclude, from its nature and 
results, that he is equally the prime mover and the 
actuating power of this rationalistic system, deceiver of 
the educated through their idolatry of reason ; as of the 
ignorant through the imposing forms of superstition 
and the arts of priestcraft. 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 285 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Subject of the last Chaptsr continued — Results of the earliest and most 
prevalent Heresies. 

During the first age after the apostles, the Scripture 
doctrines respecting the Trinity, and the Person and 
work of the Mediator, appear to have prevailed in the 
Church generally ; afterwards a change of phraseology 
among the leaders and teachers of the Church took 
place, and the work of creation came to be ascribed, not 
to the Son, but to the Father. 

Tertullian, about the close of the second century, in 
his answer to Praxeas, who founded the sect of Monarch- 
ians, expressed himself in scriptural terms respecting 
the Trinity and the Person of Christ ; and describes the 
faith which he held in that respect, as that which had 
obtained from the beginning of the gospel ; i. e., among 
those admitted to be orthodox. He soon after separated 
from the Catholic Church. About fifty years later, the 
Bishop of Carthage procured the excommunication of 
the Reformer Novatian, founder of the Cathari, or Puri- 
tan- of that day, who, following his example, formed 
numerous seceding churches all over the empire, which 
flourished during the two succeeding centuries, and a 
rionof thrm down to the Reformation. "He was,"' 
i naheim, "a man of uncommon learning and elo- 
quence." He wrote a work upon the subject of the 
Trinity, of which the first eight sections relate to the 
Father; the nexl twenty to Christ: the Old Testamenl 
prophecies concerning him — their actual accomplish- 



286 THE MESSIAH 

ment — his nature — how the Scriptures prove his divin- 
ity — confutes the Sabeilians — shows that it was Christ 
who appeared to the patriarchs, Abraham, Jacob, 
Moses, &c 

From the character ascribed to Novatian by ecclesias- 
tical historians ; from the censures cast upon him by the 
Popish writers, who represent him as the first antipope, 
author of the heresy of Puritanism, and parent of an 
innumerable multitude of seceding Puritan congregations 
all over the empire ; from his work above alluded to, 
written in 257, six years after his separation from the 
dominant Church ; and from the known character of the 
Cathari, he is doubtless to be regarded as an eminent 
example of primitive scriptural faith, and a distinguished 
leader of those who, driven into the wilderness by per- 
secution, perpetuated that faith essentially and in most 
particulars down to the era of Luther. 

The Paulicians, whose rise is dated in the seventh 
century, appear to have been of similar character. To 
these succeeded the Waldenses, Albigenses, and other 
true worshippers in the valleys of Piedmont. 

The Waldenses, in their creed of 1120, adopt all the 
articles of the so-called Apostles' Creed. They distinctly 
express their faith in the Trinity and in the canonical 
books of Scripture, which, they say, "teach us that 
there is one Cod, almighty, unbounded in wisdom and 
infinite in goodness, and who in his goodness has made 
all things." In another Confession, dated 1544, they 
say: "We believe that there is but one God, who is a 
spirit — the Creator of all things — the Father of all, who 
is above all," &c. 

The Confessions of the Waldenses were approved by 
Luther and the other Keformers. Luther published them 
in 1533, with a preface. 



IX HOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 287 

But the Creed called the Apostles', which the Walden- 
ses in their first article adopt, expressly ascribes the 
work of creation to the Father : "I believe in God the 
Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in 
Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord." Probably this 
formula shonld not be dated so early as the first, or even 
the second century. The Creed called the Nicene, 
which was in 325 adopted by the Council of Nice in 
opposition to the Gnostics, the Judaizers, and the heresy 
of Arius, comprises various terms explanatory of the 
views then held concerning the Son, while it speaks of 
the Father as the maker of all things. "We believe in 
one God, the Father Almighty^ maker of all tilings visible 
and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son 
of God, the only begotten: begotten of the Father, that 
is, of the substance of the Father. God of God ; Light 
of Light ; true God of true God ; begotten, not made ; 
consubstantial with the Father," &c. 

The Second General Council, which was held at Con- 
stantinople in 383, determined that the Nicene Creed 
should be the standard of orthodoxy. 

This creed continued to be held by the Eoman 
Catholic Church, and was adopted and still continues 
in use by the Protestant Episcopal Churches both of 
Greal Britain and this country. 

Probably the phra -oology both of the Nicene ami the 
ea' Creed, in respeol u> t In i ascription of the works 
of creation to God the Father, baying been adopted and 
followed by all succeeding writers of authority, was re- 
ceived and acquiesced in by all the Reformers and the 
differenl Protestanl denominations, and thus, coinciding 
essentially with the Talmudists and Rabbinical Doctors, 
was in every way sanctioned and commended as an 
example to our translators. 



288 THE MESSIAH 

In the Confession of Faith and Catechism of the Pres- 
byterian Church of Scotland and that of this country, 
there is indeed, in respect to the subject under consider- 
ation, a less exact copy than in earlier Confessions of 
the phraseology of the Nicene formula. The work of 
creation is, however, in no respect ascribed to the 
Mediator personally. The doctrine of the eternal gene- 
ration of the Son is very distinctly avowed ; and the 
works of creation are ascribed to God, though not with 
any restricted reference to the Father, as distinguished 
from the other Persons. 

These brief references may serve to show that the 
ascription of the work of creation by some to the Father, 
in such a manner as to indicate that it is his personally, 
and by others to the Deity, in distinction from the de- 
legated official Person and work of the Mediator, owed 
its origin primarily to the nature of the heresies and 
controversies by which the Church was agitated, and 
the methods of the orthodox in defending the doctrines 
of the Trinity and the Divinity of Christ, against the 
Judaizers, the Gnostics, the Arians, and others; and 
was handed down in their treatises and creeds from 
one age to another. In the same way the doctrine of 
eternal generation, and all the phraseology in the Nicene 
Creed, for example, respecting the Son, which is not to 
be found in like terms in the Holy Scriptures, appears 
to have arisen. And it is to be observed that, in close 
connection with these opinions as adopted by Protest- 
ants, is the doctrine that the personal and official work 
of the Mediator had respect only to the redemption 
of man, and commenced in personal acts not till his 
appearance incarnate. 

In view of the origin, nature, and tendency of the 
heresies above referred to. their extended influence, and 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 289 

the manner in which they were controverted, one can 
hardly avoid the conclusion, that the order of Divine 
instruction in the most essential particulars was in- 
verted, by the assumption of some and the acquies- 
cence therein of others, that the Old Testament re- 
vealed only the one invisible Deity absolutely con- 
sidered, as the Creator and Governor of the world, whose 
oneness or unity was so regarded by one class as to 
preclude the idea of any personal distinction in the 
Godhead ; and so regarded by many others, who held 
both the unity and the distinction of Persons, as to 
lead them, irrespective of that distinction, to ascribe 
the works of creation and providence to the one Su- 
preme Deity, or to the Father. 

Of the class first above mentioned were the Jews at 
the period of the Incarnation. They therefore opposed 
and rejected the Messiah, on account of his Divine pre- 
tensions, making himself a distinct Person of the God- 
head, equal with God. They looked not for a Messiah 
of such a character, nor for deliverance from sin 
through faith in his vicarious sufferings, nor for a sal- 
vation which was to be extended to the Gentiles. They 
held to justification by their ritual services and obedi- 
ence to the law of Moses, and desired only a Messiah 
or leader who should deliver them from temporal evils. 

There were, at that period, considerable numbers of 
•' nt in the several provinces of the Roman 

empire, who, following the early examples of their 
kindred in Judea, opposed and persecuted those who 
believed in the Divinity of Jesus the crucified, as the 
tin- Messiah. At the same time they professed the 
ntmosl zeal for the doctrine of the Unity, and for the 
exclusive worship of the one Supreme Deity, and as- 
sociated their rejection of the gospel and its Author 
13 



290 THE MESSIAH 

with, their vehement opposition to idolatry. As the 
preaching of the gospel was extended from Jerusalem 
to the provinces, many Jews professed to receive it, 
who, retaining their former religious opinions and pre- 
judices, and setting up to be preachers, endeavored to 
subvert the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, and to 
subject the converts, real and nominal, to their notions 
of Judaism and of the ritual of Moses. These Judaiz- 
ing teachers still insisted on justification by the works 
of the law, held firmly to their national prejudices, 
exclusive privileges, and hatred of the Gentiles, and to 
fortify themselves, joined with those Gentile heretics 
whose errors were consistent with their own. 

The Jews themselves far exceeded all others in 
opposing the doctrines of the gospel, and persecuting 
those who embraced them. " Other nations," says 
Justin Martyr to Trypho, [A. D. 115 or 120,] "are not 
so culpable for the injury that is done to us and to 
Christ himself, as you, who first caused them to enter- 
tain so great a prejudice against that Just One, and us 
his disciples and followers. For after you had crucified 
him who alone was unblamable and just, by whose 
stripes they are healed who come unto the Father by 
him; after ye knew that he was risen from the dead 
and ascended up into heaven, as the ancient prophecies 
foretold concerning him ; ye were so far from repenting 
of those evil deeds which ye have committed, that even 
then ye dispatched from Jerusalem, into all countries, select 
missionaries, to inform them that the impious sect of Chris- 
tians, lately sprung up, worshipped no God; and to spread 
abroad those false and scandalous reproaches which all 
that are unacquainted with us and our religion do even 
to this day lay to our charge." Brown's Version, sec. 17. 
The Jews denounced the Christians as atheists, because 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 291 

they worshipped the Christ as God, instead of restrict- 
ing their homage to Him whom they regarded as the 
one Supreme, invisible Creator. 

Under the influence so widely diffused from this 
source, and that of the heresies above referred to, the 
Church passed into the dark cloud of Popish super- 
stition, ignorance, and imposture." The era of inspi- 
ration and miracles had passed. The idolatrous forms 
of paganism were transferred from the heathen to the 
so-called Christian temples. The theory of religion 
then, combining elements from Judaism, Oriental phi- 
losophy, Paganism, and Christianity, was practically 

imodated to the heart of man in his natural state. 

- of interpretation were introduced, by which 
truth, so far as it was admitted, was made to serve all 
the ends and purposes of error. The Popish system, 
for example, while it retains, in terms, the doctrine 
of the Trinity, denies all those collateral and depend- 
ent truths which render that doctrine of any value in 
the affair of man's salvation. It allows the Divinity of 
Jesus Christ, but supersedes him in respect to his sacer- 
dotal and regal offices, and in effect denies his person- 
ality. In place of his atonement, it substitutes the 
M To supersede or obviate his personal mediation, 

it offers, like Paganism, a thousand creature mediators. 
T«> nullify his personality, and the admission of his 
Divinity, it professes even to create him. 

The subjects of controversy to which these heresies 
ich as, under the influence of certain 
contr tiling circumstances, unavoidably to change or 
modify the faith, in respect to some doctrines, of those 
who continued to be in tin- main evangelical. The 
circumstances referred to resulted from the national- 
ization of the Church, the assumption by the civil 



292 THE MESSIAH 

power of legislative authority over its doctrines and all 
its concerns, and the consequent prescription, under 
the severest penalties, of entire uniformity of faith and 
worship. Hence, when heresies arose and spread, Coun- 
cils were called to suppress them, and to prescribe the 
rule of faith which was to be enforced. Their deter- 
minations, of course, must be in conformity not only 
with the opinions of a majority of those convened, but 
with the sentiments of the reigning emperor. When- 
ever he and the majority of those summoned to a Coun- 
cil were inclined to Arianism, image worship, and the 
like, those who held the primitive faith had to choose 
between a surrender of their principles and deposition, 
banishment, or death. The tendency of this course of 
things to drive the true confessors of Christ into the 
wilderness, and to induce the best of those who re- 
mained in the so-called Catholic Church to dissemble, 
and to adopt the sentiments and phraseology of those 
whom they deemed to be in error, is too apparent to 
require any illustration. ( 

Now those controversies from the first with the 
Gnostics, the Cerinthians, Valentinians, Monarchians, 
Sabellians, Manichasans, Arians, and various others, 
related to the character of the Supreme Being, the Cre- 
ator; the mode of Divine existence; the Trinity; the 
Person of Christ ; and topics intimately connected with 
these. The changes and modifications of phraseology 
and sentiment which, for the sake of unity, or for other 
reasons, the more evangelical adopted, as in the Nicene 
Creed and in their theological writings, were regularly 
handed down to the period of the Reformation. These 
writings were studied, and had their influence with the 
Reformers, on their receding from the corruptions of 
Popery. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 293 

In this way, a departure in some things from the 
patriarchal, the early Jewish and the primitive Christian 
faith, is believed to have taken place; particularly in 
the omission to ascribe the works of creation and pro- 
vidence to the Christ, in his delegated personal character 
as Mediator, and ascribing those works to the Father; 
and in adopting the sentiments that the mediatorial 
work commenced after the fall, and had for its sole 
object the salvation of men, and that his second com- 
ing and reign would not be personal and visible, but 
only spiritual, at least not until the final judgment and 
consummation of all things. 

The first of these errors — that of ascribing the cre- 
ation to the Father personally, or to the invisible Deity, 
irrespective of any distinction of Persons in the God- 
nead — is to be traced back in the line of the Jews to the 
period of the Babylonish exile, and to the influences 
and state of mind under which they renounced idolatry, 
and with it the entire doctrine of mediation, and all 
belief in a divine, atoning, and interceding Messiah ; and, 
obscuring by their traditions and glosses, or wholly re- 
jecting, those prophecies which relate to the first ad- 
vent and sufferings of the Saviour, looked for a human 
deliverer and temporal chief, a king to resume the 
throne of David, in those predictions of the second 
advent which indicate a period of universal peace and 
happin 

The Jews, previously to their exile, bad, both in 
respecl to their knowledge of divine things and their 
practice, greatly degenerated. They had long been 
addicted to idolatry. They bud rejected their Divine 
Protector and King, and yielded themselves to the false 
notions and corjupl practices of the heathen. The 
Divine presence and favor were withdrawn. They 



294: THE MESSIAH 

were afflicted and driven out of their country. Pro- 
phets were sent to instruct, admonish, and encourage 
them ; but they refused to hear, being hardened and 
blinded in unbelief. They regarded the God of Abra- 
ham, the Jehovah who led them out of Egypt, and, in 
the Shekina, presided over their nation, either as having 
become their enemy, or as having withdrawn from 
them for ever. Under these circumstances, there is 
ground to conclude that they willingly settled down 
in the notion of a Supreme Creator, invisible, far re- 
moved from the concerns of mortals, and indifferent or 
inattentive to them. On abandoning the forms of idol- 
atry, and rejecting the pretended mediators of idola- 
trous worship, while yet continuing impenitent, and 
maintaining a proud and haughty spirit as Jews, though 
now depressed, and apparently abandoned of God ; they 
are believed to have banished from their minds all near 
apprehensions of the Divine Being, and all ideas of a 
Divine Mediator, and to have taken refuge in the ab- 
stract notion of a Supreme Creator, who, though no 
longer regarded as their covenant God and present 
protector, had promised a leader, a Messiah, who should 
deliver them from their temporal calamities. 

Such is believed to have been their state of mind at 
the close of their exile ; such the change attending their 
renunciation of idolatry ; and that the error and defect 
in question, respecting the teachings of the Old Testa- 
ment, had its source with them. Their sentiments and 
state of mind having been perpetuated down to the 
period of the Advent, were propagated afterwards in 
the manner above referred to. 

There was, indeed, a partial, outward reformation 
under Nehemiah, after the return from Babylon, and 
the temple service was resumed ; but the Shekina did 



IN .MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 295 

not reappear, and there "was no general or lasting 
change amongst the people. The Chaldee expositors, 
and afterwards the paraphrasts, labored to revive and 
perpetuate the lost meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures ; 
but though a few, a remnant, of such as rightly appre- 
hended and truly feared Jehovah were preserved and 
perpetuated, the theology and religion of the nation 
generally underwent no important change for the 
better. 

The foregoing considerations may suffice to show how 
it has happened that the Old Testament has, both by 
Jews and Christians, so long and so generally been 
understood to ascribe the works of creation and pro- 
vidence, not to the Mediator, but to the Father, or to 
the Deity, irrespective of any personal or official dis- 
tinctions. 

That this error, and others intimately associated with 
it, respecting the person and work of Christ, should 
have arisen and been perpetuated in the manner speci- 
fied, cannot reasonably be regarded with surprise. The 
nature of the case, and the lights of the intervening 
history, are at war with the supposition that the true 
doctrines upon these subjects, concerning which the 
governments, hierarchies, and people of the whole 
heathen world were in utter darkness and error, were 
preserved by the Jews after their return from Babylon, 
and after their rejection of Christ, and by the apostate 
hierarchy of the Romish system imbued with the spirit 
and degenerated to the level of Paganism, in all but the 
Dame. It, as is notorious, they did not truly teach the 
doctrines of Scripture upon other subjects, least of all 
Can it be believed that they taught the truth concerning 
these. 



296 THE MESSIAH 



Note. Concerning the Work of Creation and its completion at one 
Epoch. 

It is clear from Colossians, chap, i., that the work of 
creation, there and elsewhere ascribed to the Christ, in- 
cluded the invisible as well as the visible worlds and 
all creatures; that they were called into existence by 
him and for him, for the purposes he was to execute 
and the ends which were to be accomplished by him. 
He is accordingly referred to as upholding and govern- 
ing all things, as having all power in heaven and earth, 
as heir and Lord of all. Angels, principalities and 
powers are subject to him ; and to him. in his official 
character (as visibly manifested "the Son of Man") all 
judgment is committed. 

Now these comprehensive ascriptions to him in his 
delegated character, and in express connection with his 
work as Mediator and Kedeemer, as in the passage 
above referred to, and in Heb. i., render it preposterous 
to suppose that worlds and creatures invisible to us, or 
any portion of the works of creation, were brought 
into existence prior to that creation which is described 
in the Mosaic narrative. For if they were, what con- 
ceivable connection or relation could they have had 
with his person or character as Kedeemer, Messiah, 
God-man? Did he sustain that official character or 
exercise any of its offices ages prior to the creation of 
man ? 

In the leginning He created the heavens and the earth. 
Gen. i. He was in the leginning ; all things were made 
by him. John i. In the beginninghe laid the foundation 
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of his hands. 
Heb. i. In six days he made the heavens and the 
earth. Exodus xx. But if the phrase " in the begin- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 297 

ning," so frequently employed in this connection, marks 
the epoch of the creation of the heavens, it refers that 
of the earth to the same epoch. The "all things" 
doubtless include the invisible as well as the visible 
worlds ; and the foundations of the earth were laid in 
the beginning. " Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of 
heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things 
that are therein, the sea and all that is therein, and 
thou preservest them all ; and the host of heaven wor- 
shipped thee." Neh. ix. 7. "The heaven and the hea- 
ven of heavens is Jehovah's, the earth also with all that 
therein is." Deut. x. 14. In these and all similar con- 
nections, as Gen. i. 1 : Exod. xx. 11, where the Hebrew 
word is in the plural form, heavens, the universe of 
worlds visible and invisible is meant. To preclude all 
doubt of this comprehensive reference, Moses and 
Nehemiah, both having occasion to guard against the 
pretensions of idolatry, employ the phrase, heaven of 
heavens. 

Accordingly, wherever the work of creation is men- 
tioned, whether distinctively as the work of Jehovah, or 
historically, as including all worlds, the plural word, the 
as, is employed, and put in contrast with the earth. 
" Thus," at the close of the six days, " the heavens and 
the earth woe finished, and all the host of them." 
Gen. ii. 1. These are the generations of the heavens and 
of /A-- earth when they were created, in the day that the 
Lord ( i'"l made tin' earth and the heavens." Gen. ii. 4. 
"Tims Baith God the Lord, he, that created the heavens 
ami stretched them "iii. he thai spread forth the earth, 

and that which COmeth out of it." Isaiah xlii. .">. 

" Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed 
thee: I a in the Lord thai makethall things, that stretch- 
eth forth (Ju heavens alone, that Bpreadeth abroad the 

13* 



298 THE MESSIAH 

earth by myself." Isaiah xliv. 24. " Thus saitli the 
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his maker, . . . I have 
made the earth and created man upon it : I, even my 
hands, have stretched forth the heavens, and all their 
hosts have I commanded." Ibid. xlv. 12. " Thus saith 
the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that 
formed the earth and made it ; he created it not in vain. 
he formed it to be inhabited : I am the Lord, and there 
is none else." Ibid. xlv. 18. " The Lord thy maker, 
that hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the founda- 
tions of the earth." Ibid. li. 13. " The Lord is the true 
God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King. . . . 
The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, 
even they shall perish from the earth, and from under 
these heavens. . . . He hath made the earth by his 
power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, 
and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion." 
Jer. x. 10, &c, also Psalm xcvi. 5 ; cii. 25, &c., &c. 

In these and similar passages, where, in the most com- 
prehensive and unequivocal manner, the creation of all 
things is asserted, the simultaneous creation of all is 
clearly indicated in the collocation of the words the 
heavens and the earth, the latter being sometimes placed 
before and sometimes after the former. 

The same plural word is employed in other connec- 
tions: "Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, 
possessor of the heavens and the earth. ... I have 
lifted up my hand unto the Lord, the Most High God, 
possessor of the heavens and the earth." Gen. xiv. " Is 
not God in the height of the heavens?" Job xxii. 
" Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, 
and bless thy people." Deut. xxvi. " O God, look 
down from the heavens and behold." Psalm lxxx. 
"The Lord he is God in the heavens above and upon 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 299 

the earth." Deut. iv. " Praise ye the Lord from the 
heavens. . . . Praise ye him, all his angels ; praise ye 
him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon : 
praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye hea- 
vens of heavens. . . . Let them praise the name of 
Jehovah: for he commanded, and they were created. 
He hath also established them for ever and ever ; he 
hath made a decree which shall not pass." Psalm cxlviii. 

The Scriptures speak of one creation only; and of 
that, directly and incidentally, in such terms as to leave 
no room for the supposition that any portion of the 
material universe was called into existence prior to the 
Mosaic epoch. They exhibit nothing from which an 
inference can be derived that all were not created at one 
epoch. The contrary supposition is not founded on 
any authority of inspiration, but upon conjecture or 
assumption. It is by some assumed that by the heavens 
Moses meant the orbs of our solar s} r stem only, or at 
most, the stars visible in the firmament to the unassisted 
eye. They think it unreasonable to suppose that in all 
past eternity nothing was created more than about six 
thousand years ago. They cannot imagine what the 
Creator was doing, if he did not exercise his power in 
creating worlds. But the same supposition might Avith 
equal reason be made with respect to any earlier con- 
ceivable epoch. For at any such earlier epoch there 
had been a past eternity, a duration without beginning. 
The terms of the supposition are solccistical and absurd, 
BO far as relates to the Creator ; and with respect to the 
little mind of man, they are of no significance, unless 
the invisible worlds are eternal. 

It is more obvious thai) necessary to suggest an astro- 
nomical argument against the supposition of successive 
creations of suns and systems. It is a doctrine of 



300 THE MESSIAH 

astronomy that our sun with its dependent system re- 
volves round a central orb, as our planets revolve 
around the sun ; but in an orbit of such immense ex- 
tent as to require near two millions of years, at the rate 
of thirty millions of miles a year, to accomplish one 
revolution. From the observations and facts which 
verify this doctrine, it is legitimate to infer that there 
is a like revolution of all other suns and systems, and 
that the laws which govern those vast and complicated 
movements were established at the creation. With 
these considerations in view, we may confidently infer 
that the infinite Creator did not call into existence and 
establish the relations, motions, and revolutions of a 
portion of the celestial orbs at one epoch, and another 
portion at a later epoch, so as to derange all that had 
been perfected, and require new adjustments, new rela- 
tions, new movements, new velocities, and peradventure 
enlarged forces of attraction and gravitation throughout 
the realms of space. 

To judge of the force of this argument, one must, in 
view of the harmony of the existing material system 
under the well-known laws which govern it, consider 
what would be the necessary and inevitable effects of 
adding to that system new stars equal in number and 
dimensions to those visible from the earth, or even one 
other solar system, equal to that to which the earth be- 
longs. Undoubtedly, if our mathematics, our inductive 
philosophy, and our astronomy are to be relied on, the 
addition to the existing orbs of one globe like the earth 
would more or less disturb and derange the whole, or 
require an infinite miracle to prevent disturbance. 

Closely connected with the supposition of worlds 
created longer ago than the earth, is that of successive 
creations of plants and animals to supply the defect of 



IX MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 301 

new or remote continents and islands. Man}?- who, con- 
formably to the Scriptures, hold to the identity of the 
human race as descended from one primitive pair, 
though distributed over all the continents and islands, 
and exhibiting in many respects extreme diversity, 
profess nevertheless to believe that there have been 
many successive creations of brute animals since, if not 
prior to the deluge. Though pairs of the inferior races 
as well as of the human race were preserved in the ark, 
and for the same reason — "to keep seed alive upon the 
face of all the earth," aud though no greater obstacles 
existed, so far as we know, to the dispersion of the in- 
ferior animals to all quarters of the globe than to that 
of man, they indulge the notion, without any authority 
from Scripture, or any demonstrable necessity, or any 
better reason than the exigency of a geological theory, 
that the Creator of the universe, in the course of his 
providence over this apostate and blighted world, has, 
from time to time, exercised his power in creating races 
of brutes to be subject to the conditions of those who 
shared in the consequences of the apostasy of man. 

Such a notion seems in every view incongruous and 
preposterous, without reason or necessity, inconsistent 
with tin- law of creation in respect to man, and un- 
worthy of the perfections and of the moral purposes 
and administration of the Creator. It seems to imply 
the further notion, that the same providence which dis- 
persed and preserved the human race in all quarters 
and climates of the world, was inadequate to the same, 
results in the case of the lower animals, and that it was 
of such moment to keep every locality stocked with 
Bayage and carnivorous beasts as to call, from time to 
time, f.r th« interposition of creative power. 

'I'll'- objeel of the works of creation, as the scene 



302 



THE MESSIAH 



of the moral and providential administration of the 
Creator, would, in harmony with the announcements 
of Scripture, seem to imply that they were brought 
into existence at one epoch. That administration had 
a beginning: at the beginning he created the scene and 
subjects of it. It extends to all worlds. It is one 
comprehensive, universal, perfect system, involving the 
rights and prerogatives of the Supreme Euler, which 
are founded on the fact of his being the Creator of all ; 
and the obligations and duties of intelligent creatures, 
which arise from the fact of their owing their existence 
to him. 

Now, since there could be no conceivable obstruc- 
tion to his bringing all the worlds and creatures through- 
out the realms of space into being at one epoch ; and 
since the administration of which they were to be the 
scene was to comprehend them all, it would seem bet- 
ter to comport with the admitted object of them and 
with his infinite perfections, to believe that he created 
them all at once, than to suppose that he laid the foun- 
dation of his empire in part at one and in part at a 
later epoch. On the latter supposition, it would be easy, 
at least, to suggest very plausible objections and dif- 
ficulties, for which, on the former, there is no room. 

The passage in Job xxviii., "Whereupon are the 
foundations of the earth fastened? or who laid the 
corner-stone thereof, when the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ?" is 
by some supposed to imply, that when the earth was 
created, there were preexisting worlds and intelligent 
creatures to witness and celebrate the event. But if such 
were the meaning of this poetical description, those 
morning stars must have been such as were visible 
from the earth, or else the earth could not be supposed 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 303 

to be visible from them. The Scriptures, however, 
refer to the visible stars as being created at the same 
time with the earth. In the narrative of the fourth 
day it is said. '-And God made two great lights; ... he 
made the stars also ; and set them in the firmament of 
heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule over 
the day and over the night," &c. Gen. i. It is not 
conceivable that the reference in Job should have been 
meant to exclude the visible stars ; and if it included 
them, then it included celestial worlds which were created 
simultaneously with the earth. The phrase, " morning 
doubtless signifies stars visible in the morning. 
The terms employed in Job may, perhaps, be better 
rendered, "The stars burst forth together as light, or as 
the morning." 

From the narrative of the temptation in Eden, some 
imagine that Satan had existed and fallen before the 
creation of Adam. But there is no reference to that 
evil being till after Adam and Eve were placed in the 
garden. How long they were there before the tempta- 
tion, we know not. It was long enough, however, for 
them to receive instruction as to the prohibited tree, and 
for Adam "to give names to all cattle, and to the fowl 
of ih.' air, and to every beast of the field;" long enough 
for iliem to become familiar witli the place, and with 
fche voi.-c ami other tokens of the Creator's presence. 
Now, on the supposition that all the angelic hosts were 
created simultaneously with the beavens and the earth, 
what was there to hinder the apostasy of Satan between 
the date of thai creation and bis assaull upon A.dam, 
which would not equally have hindered the apostasy of 
man so Boon after his creation? Is it not, from the 
nature of the case, more probable that Satan revolted 
Very soon after his creation, than at a remote period? 



304 THE MESSIAH 

As in the case of Adam, who, had he continued holy for 
scores or thousands of years, would, we may well pre- 
sume, have been less likely to fall than at the outset of 
his career, before he had formed habits of obedience, or 
had the benefit of experience. 

It is remarkable with what facility the most prepos- 
terous assumptions have been adopted and perpetuated 
respecting the Creator, the works of creation, provi- 
dence, moral government, &c, to aid in support of pre- 
conceived religious, philosophical, physical, and social 
theories. The principal religious heresies, whether pro 
pounded under the garb of theology or that of phil- 
osophy and science, falsely so called, have rested upon 
false assumptions respecting the character and condition 
of man as a fallen creature, and the one only Deliverer 
and way of deliverance, and respecting the character, 
prerogatives, and rights of the Creator and Ruler of the 
world, and the nature, epoch, and object of the work 
of creation. Witness the Gnostic, Arian, Pelagian, 
Socinian, and other ancient religious heresies, on the 
one hand ; and on the other, the theory of our modern 
geologists, in its relation to the inspiration, authority, 
and meaning of the Scriptures, the nature, date and 
purpose of the creation of the world, and the causes 
and reasons of the physical changes it has undergone. 

The fact that all the great heresies and false systems 
by which the post-diluvian world has been deceived 
and held in the bondage of corruption, have risen from 
false assumptions and erroneous theories concerning 
the Creator and the work of creation ; and from those 
assumptions and theories, as starting-points, have di- 
verged from the truth as revealed in Scripture ; this 
fact, and the consideration that the rights and preroga- 
tives of Jehovah, in relation to his creatures and their 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 305 

obligations and duties towards him, are founded in the 
fact of his being the Creator, demonstrate that the 
account which he has given of his works is of equal 
authority with the other contents of his Word. It lies 
at the foundation of his moral law and government, 
and of his providential administration over all worlds, 
and is essential to his claim of supreme allegiance and 
homage from all intelligent creatures. It lies at the 
foundation of all scriptural faith in God and in the 
doctrines of his Word, and is the basis of the true, in 
contradistinction to all false religion. 



306 THE MESSIAH 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The great Antagonism — in what manner will it terminate? 

The great peculiarity in the history of the human 
race took its rise in the apostasy of man, and is exhi- 
bited in the antagonism between the rightful Sovereign 
of the world and the instigator of that apostasy, and in 
the agency, relations and destiny of their respective 
followers. In the progress of the conflict between the 
righteous and the wicked, holiness and sin, happiness 
and misery, light and darkness, truth and falsehood, the 
desperate malevolence of the Evil One, and the guilt and 
ruin of his followers, are made manifest to all observers ; 
and on the other hand, the infinite riches of the wisdom, 
goodness, righteousness and mercy of the great Deli- 
verer towards his followers, in their renewed allegiance 
and recovery to holiness and happiness, are equally 
made public. In the announcements of his Word, and 
in the administration of his moral and providential 
government over them, the wrath of God is revealed 
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. 
The angels who kept not their first estate were reserved 
to an inevitable doom. The early descendants of the 
first human pair wholly corrupted their way and filled 
the earth with violence, and "the world that then was, 
being overflowed with water, perished." The imme- 
diate successors of those who were preserved in the ark, 
when, from the works of creation, the teachings of 
Noah, and the institutions of revealed religion, they 



EN MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 307 

knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were 
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and 
their foolish heart was darkened. Professing them- 
selves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the 
glory of the incorruptible God — misrepresented his in- 
visible attributes, eternal power and Godhead, and the 
glory of his perfections, visibly displayed in his works 
of creation and providence — by an image made like to 
corruptible men, and to birds, and four-footed beasts 
and creeping things ; and changed the truth concerning 
God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature 
rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. There- 
fore, even as they did not like to retain the true God in 
their knowledge, he gave them over, in his righteous 
judgment, to a reprobate mind, to the indulgence of 
their evil propensities under the instigation of their 
chosen leader, <; the Devil, who deceiveth the whole 
world;" assuming to be, and usurping the place of, 
God ; leading his deluded followers " captive at his will," 
and foreshowing, by their condition and conduct on 
earth, their ultimate doom, as the final destiny of the 
angels who kept not their first estate is manifested by 
their conduct while under sentence of condemnation 
prior to tin; final judgment. 

Throughout ilic history of this antagonism as re- 
corded in the Old Testament, the great question was, 
Who is the true God, the Creator, Ruler, Benefactor, to 
whom all creatures owe allegiance — Jehovah or the 
Baal? This question was specially and publicly tried 
on vai i -ns, as in tin; plagues of Egypt, in the 

controversy conducted by Elijah, in that relating to the 
image erected by Nebuchadnezzar, and many others of 
•toriety. In several* scores of instances it isthe 
declared purpose of particular dispensations and events 



308 THE MESSIAH 

that those to whom they referred might be made to 
know that He, the true God, in opposition to the Baa], 
was Jehovah. And such, at the final termination of 
the conflict, will be the resistless and universal convic- 
tion: "every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." 
Having, in his official character and complex Person, 
maintained the conflict throughout all the periods and 
in all the forms of its exhibition, vanquished the great 
Adversary, redressed the consequences of the fall, and 
destroyed even death itself, his triumph is complete and 
final ; vindicating all his offices and agency, establish- 
ing the facts and doctrines, prerogatives and rights upon 
which his government is founded, securing for ever the 
loyalty and bliss of the unfallen and ransomed portions 
of his empire, and filling the universe with the glory of 
his person and his name, and with the boundless riches 
of his wisdom, grace and love. Then will be displayed 
the vastness and grandeur of the scheme purposed in 
Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, and in- 
volving this conflict between the Divine Mediator and 
the Arch-rebel and his party, that through the redemp- 
tion, resurrection, and final exaltation and glory of the 
Church, the Divine perfections might be made known 
to the unfallen, the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places. 

The chief question which remains concerning this 
antagonism, relates to the manner of its termination — ■ 
the means and agencies by which it is to be ended. 
That it is to end, there is no doubt. That it is to termi- 
nate in such a manner as to fill the universe with new 
and previously inconceivable demonstrations of the ma- 
jesty, power, and glory of the Messiah, and his people 
with unprecedented exultation, joy, and praise, the 



IX MOSES AXD THE PROPHETS. 309 

Scriptures abundantly testify. But from a period shortly 
subsequent to that of his ascension, there has been a 
difference of opinion in the Church — more or less con- 
spicuous at all times, but never, perhaps, more marked 
than at present — concerning this great question. That 
difference of opinion, on the part of the great majority 
even in. the Protestant churches, is believed to be 
founded in the Rabbinical and figurative interpretations 
of the Old Testament, formerly referred to; and to 
include among its principal elements a very defective 
estimate of those sacred oracles, and an inadequate and 
erroneous view of their teachings concerning the Person, 
titles, prerogatives, manifestations, works and purposes 
of Christ. 

On a point of this nature and importance, one might 
safely infer from the analogy of the past, whether argu- 
ing from the history of the Jewish or that of the nora- 
inally Christian Church, that the party composing the 
great majority were not in the right. It is presumed 
to be quite safe to say, that at every period of any con- 
siderable extent of the Jewish Church, after its estab- 
lishment in Canaan, and more especially after the reign 
of Solomon, the majority, notwithstanding the writings 
of Moses and the instructions of the prophets, were 
under great delusion and error respecting the Messiah 
and his kingdom ; and at Ihe Advent, those who were in 
the right were few in number compared with the busy 
Bcribes, the ostentatious Pharisees, and those doctors of 
the law who, sitting in Moses' seat, taught the traditions 
and commandments of men. And of what cousider- 
able division of the nominally Christian Church, from 
the Becond century to the Reformation] will any one 
affirm thai a greal majority were not under deep delu- 
8h>ii and error in respect to important points of doctrine 



310 THE MESSIAH 

and practice ? Or of the Bomish Church before or since 
the Eeformation, will any one, not a Papist, say that it 
has not held flagrant and astounding errors concerning 
the offices and prerogatives of Christ, as Prophet, Priest, 
and King, the one only Mediator, Lawgiver, and Head 
of his people ? 

Can it be presumptuous, then, to suppose that the 
great majority in the Protestant churches are in error in 
holding that this antagonism is to terminate without 
any further visible personal manifestations of Jehovah, 
the Messenger incarnate ; that the usurping Adversary, 
whose domination over the race prior to the deluge was 
checked by that catastrophe only till fitting subjects of 
his delusions reappeared, and whose sway over the 
Pagan, Mohammedan and Roman world has, with occa- 
sional change of forms and names, continued substan- 
tially intact, is to be vanquished and driven from the 
scene solely by moral and spiritual influence; that the 
system of idolatry which has, from the call of Abraham 
to the present, hour, subjected most of the race to all 
the evils and miseries of sin which are possible to 
human beings in the present life ; which has been the 
organized medium and embodiment of rebellion against 
their rightful Sovereign, of denial of his claims, and of 
studied provocation and affront; and which has with- 
stood so many public and visible shocks and terrors of 
his wrath and power, is at length to yield and quietly 
disappear without any further visible demonstrations of 
his supremacy, or public vindications of his righteous- 
ness? 

Is there any thing more unlikely in the supposition 
that a misconstruction of the prophecies relating to the 
period and objects of the second advent should prevail 
and be pertinaciously adhered to by many, than in the 



IX MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. 311 

historical fact that the Jews and Jewish doctors mis- 
construed those prophecies relating to the period and 
objects of the first advent, which, to the faithful in the 
Gentile Church, have ever appeared unmistakably 
plain and definitive? 

If such misconstruction and error do not prevail with 
the generality of Protestants, it is the first time in the 
history of the Avorld that the multitude, in opposition to 
the few on such a question, have held the true meaning 
of the Scriptures. If they do prevail, they will as- 
suredly be renounced at least by the true worshippers. 
Their teachers and guides will cease to be of those 
who regard the Old Testament as a shadowy myth, all 
figurative with reference to the future, all obsolete in 
relation to the past — creation resolved into primordial 
elements and physical laws, or superseded by the 
chronology of sediment and fossil bones — and miracles 
explained away as inconsistent with rationalism and 
with the course of nature. On the other hand, the de- 
scendants of Israel will recognize the Messiah in Jesus 
of Nazareth; the veil which, on their reading of Moses, 
is on their hearts, will be taken away, and the tabernacle 
<.f Itavid, which is fallen down, will be reelected ; and 
the Messiah, A donai, Jehovah the Messenger, will 
and reign as Priesl and Bang upon his throne for 
ever and <-\ er. 

In their defection to idolatry, the Messiah, the Mes- 
lenger Jehovah, became an oll'ense to Israel. They 
ceased i<> seels salvation, righteousness, justification by 
faith in him, and trusted to the works of the law. 

They stumbled at him as a stumbling-si ■ and rock of 

offense. lint have they so stumbled and fallen as to be 
utterly cutoff? Far 1»- ii ! Rather, through their, fall 
salvation came t" the Gentiles. Ami if their fall was 



312 THE MESSIAH 

followed and counteracted by such benefits, what shall 
their recovery be but life from the dead ? If on their 
stock, decayed and rejected through unbelief, the Gentiles 
as a wild olive were engrafted, God is able to engraft 
them again into their own olive tree. If blindness of 
heart hath befallen Israel, it is only till the fulness of 
the Gentiles be come in ; and then all Israel will be 
saved. "As it is written, There shall come out of Zion 
the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from 
Jacob : For this is my covenant unto them when I shall 
take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they 
are enemies for the Gentiles' sake ; but as touching the 
election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the 
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For 
as in times past [before the Messiah came] the Gentiles 
believed not, but on his coming obtained mercy because 
of the unbelief of Israel ; so Israel now continues dis- 
obedient to the mercy shown to the Gentiles, that 
through their mercy Israel also may obtain mercy ; 
that God may have mercy upon all. O the depth of 
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
finding out! For who hath known the mind of the 
Lord ? or who hath been his counsellor ? or who hath 
first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto 
him again ? For of him, and through him, and to him 
are all things; to whom be glory for ever. Amen." 
Romans xi. 

Behold then, descendants of Israel, the Lamb of God 
who taketh away the sin of the world! Behold in 
Jesus the Christ, the Messiah whom your fathers cruci- 
fied and pierced! Look to the Messenger Jehovah, 
who, when the race in their primeval representative fell 
from the estate wherein they were created, yielding to 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 313 

the will of the great Adversary, renouncing their allegi- 
ance to God, and becoming heirs of his wrath and con- 
demnation, took their place as their representative and 
substitute, entered the lists as their champion, assumed 
the responsibility of encountering, counteracting, and 
finally subduing, vanquishing, and triumphing over 
their destroyer, and by suffering in their stead, of res- 
cuing, sanctifying, and raising from the dead all who by 
faith receive, trust, love, and obey him ; the God-man, 
the only Mediator, to whom, as Prophet, Priest, and King 
of Zion, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, every knee 
must bow, and every tongue confess that He is Jehovah. 



14 



314 THE MESSIAH 



NOTE A, p. 305. 

Instead of tracing the illustrations thus furnished, 
or making the requisite citations, the writer can barely 
refer to them, and express, as far as may be fitting, his 
opinion of that work as an exposition, upon clear and 
indubitable principles, of a portion of the sacred oracles 
previously sealed and unintelligible, to the opening of 
which no clew had been discovered, and towards a reli- 
able or satisfactory explanation of which, no progress 
had been made. And he cannot forbear to speak of it, 
even at the hazard of being supposed to have a motive 
inferior to that of impartial admiration of the work, as 
opening to the view a clear vision of the inner sanc- 
tuary, and vividly portraying the scenes, the agencies, 
and the events of the last great act of the drama begun 
in Eden; and as surpassing all other efforts towards an 
exposition of any portion of the prophetic oracles, in 
the scriptural authority of its principles, the loftiness 
and grandeur of its conceptions, the adequacy of its 
representations of the Person, titles, offices, prerogatives, 
agency, purposes, dominion and glory of Jehovah the 
Incarnate Word; the luminousness of its descriptions, 
the relevancy of its proofs and illustrations, the clear- 
ness and brevity of its style, the absence of every thing 
not pertinent, and the exhibition of every thing requisite 
to an exposition of "The Revelation of Jesus Christ 
which God gave unto him to show unto his servants." 

Such being the character of the work, it can occa- 
sion no surprise to those who consider the reigning no- 
tions and prejudices of the times concerning the import 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 31, J 

of some of the symbols, that it should be neglected by 
the many. It overturns prevailing theories and fixed 
opinions. Had it, with no settled rules of interpreta- 
tion, followed the beaten track, in conformity with those 
theories and opinions ; its accurate scholarship', its 
thorough acquaintance with preceding authors, with the 
records, institutions, import, and bearings of the earlier 
dispensations, with ancient and modern history, with 
the Greek and Latin Fathers, and Avith collateral 
branches of literature and sources of illustration, would 
have insured it the ready suffrage of the learned and 
the public. 

But it is from beginning to end an innovation. 
Instead of being an echo of prior expositions, it is 
wholly original. Instead of being a version of the con- 
jectures and fancies of others, without settled and uni- 
form principles of exposition, it differs from them very 
much as astronomy differs from astrology. It is based 
upon axioms and rules which are well defined, and of 
certain and universal application to the subjects to which 
they, relate. It lays down what no prior exposition 
ever attempted, "The Laws of Symbolic Kepresenta- 
tion ;" and by a rigid and consistent adherence to those 
as by a process of inductive demonstration, brings 
out intelligibly to the reader the meaning of the suc- 
cessive symbols : in each instance illustrating and con- 
firming the exposition by references to history, and con- 
trasting it with the views advanced by preceding writers. 
These laws of symbolic representation are neither less 
evidently founded in the nature of that mode of rcve- 
lation, nor less essential as a clew to its meaning, than 
are the common rules of grammar in relation to ordinary 
literal language; and they are accordingly sanctioned, 
and their reality and truthfulness are demonstrated by 



316 THE MESSIAH 

numerous references to inspired expositions of pro- 
phetic symbols. 

A revelation by symbol is not a statement or descrip- 
tion in words of what is foreshown, but a representative 
exhibition in a visible form ; as for example of a living 
agent, with certain known natural characteristics, and 
certain official insignia or other accompaniments, be- 
tween which agent, so depicted in its appropriate attitude 
and sphere of action, and the agent or class of agents 
of a different nature and sphere of action which is repre- 
sented and foreshown, there are such resemblances and 
analogies as to render the first an expressive and fitting 
representative of the other. Thus the beast described 
Eev. xiii. as emerging from the sea, having seven heads 
and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon 
his heads the names of blasphemy; his body "being like 
a leopard, his feet like those of a bear, and his mouth 
as that of a lion ; is described chap. xvii. as representing 
by its seven heads, seven kings, dynasties, or forms of 
executive power in the Eoman Empire prior to its divi- 
sion ; and by its ten horns ten kings which as yet had 
received no kingdom ; the ten kings, namely, between 
whom the western empire was to be divided, and who, 
with the relentless ferocity of lions, bears and leopards, 
were by persecution and otherwise to make war with the 
Lamb. So in the vision of Daniel, chap, viii., the ram 
with two horns is declared to represent the Kings of 
Media and Persia; and the goat with one horn, the 
King of Grecia. 

These examples illustrate the laws of symbolic re- 
presentation with reference to one class of symbols; 
and with respect to those symbols of which there is no 
inspired explanation, the expositor, under the control 
and guidance of those laws, is liable to no mistake, 



JS MOSES AND THE PKOPHETS. 317 

unless it be in his inadequate discernment of analogies 
and erroneous selection of agents, events, or other 
phenomena, instead of those intended to be foreshown, 
and in which congruity with the characteristics and 
adjuncts of the symbol, harmony with other Scriptures 
and predictions, and correspondence with historical 
events and testimonies are confidently to be expected. 
If the reader can imagine any thing of the awe and 
wonder which overwhelmed the apostle in his visions, 
when, in his station on the apocalyptic earth or in the 
heavenly sanctuary, he beheld the glorified Person of 
his Lord in the effulgence of his Deity, seated on a throne, 
from which, as at Sinai, proceeded lightnings and thun- 
derings and voices, and around which were exhibited the 
representative and triumphant witnesses and trophies 
of his redemptive work ; and beheld that Person sym- 
bolizing himself in his aspect and relations as incarnate, 
"a Lamb, standing as slain ;" and saw, as on the revolv- 
ing canvas of a panorama, when the seals were opened, 
the symbolic forms emerging into view one after an- 
other, each by its representative character revealing, as 
in cipher, the agents and events of its future appropri- 
ate and peculiar department ; and witnessed the pheno- 
mena of revolutions, tempests, earthquakes, darkness, 
fire and blood, foreshown under the sounding of the 
trumpets; and successively the slaughter and resurrec- 
tion of the witnesses, the war of Michael and the Dra- 
gon, the emergence of the ten-horned wild beast, the 
-I careei of the two-horned wild beast and false 
prophet, the harvest and vintage of the earth, the pour- 
in/ out upon the earth of the plagues of the seven 
vials of the wrath of God, the fall and destruction of 
great Babylon, and the ensuing scenes of wonder and 
glory, retribution and judgment, thanksgiving and tri- 



318 THE MESSIAH 

umph, he may in some degree conceive the effect of 
converting the enigmatical portraitures of this pano- 
rama into intelligible literal language, assigning each to 
its relative and historical position, and reflecting on the 
version the light of earlier revelations, that of ecclesias- 
tical and secular history, and in a large degree, in re- 
spect to the past, that of unmistakable events. 

It is in respect to the result, as compared with that of 
preceding efforts, like Daniel's interpretation of Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream, compared with the fruitless endea- 
vors of the magicians, astrologers, and Chaldeans of 
Babylon ; or like the finally successful effort to read 
the hieroglyphics of Egypt, compared with the fruitless 
attempts, bewildering theories, and abortive labors of 
preceding ages. 

Had this work been published at some transition- 
period, when the human mind was freeing itself from 
erroneous and long-cherished opinions ; at the revival 
of learning in Europe, when there were Luthers and 
Calvins to welcome it ; or in England, when there were 
Latimers and Eidleys, Boyles and Newtons, or Owens 
and Howes ; or in this country at the period of Ed- 
wards, it would have superseded and prevented the ex- 
positions to which it is opposed, or else it would have 
been answered in the same way as were the doctrines 
of Galileo. Such men under their circumstances would 
not have been content to say, as many at present seem 
to be: "Though we consider the Apocalypse a part of 
the inspired Word of God, and though it evidently 
relates to the future of the Church, the conduct of the • 
redeemed and the destruction of their enemies, and 
above all to the crowning, ultimate and eternal mani- 
festation of the Person, prerogatives, supremacy, pro- 
phetical and sacerdotal works, and regal majesty, glory, 



IN MOSES AST) THE PROPHETS. 319 

triumph, and reign, of Jesus Christ ; yet we neither un- 
derstand it, nor believe it will be understood in advance 
of its issues ; and therefore are not disposed to examine 
any thing new upon the subject." 

But the transition now going on is not against, but in 
favor of ancient and erroneous opinions. It is retro- 
grade towards Pelagianism, Pantheism, Neology, Ro- 
manism, and among the best, to the omnivorous infec- 
tion of infidel Germanism. The partisans of these 
errors desire no lights but such as are reflected from the 
satellites of their respective systems. In those exclu- 
sive and dubious lights, each is secure alike against the 
arguments and examples of every other. They can 
controvert the doctrines of Scripture and those of each 
other upon all disputed points, without the slightest 
danger of extorting concessions or producing convic- 
tion; for no two of them see the same thing by the 
same light. All hope and expectation of defeating or 
silencing any party by the arguments or Scripture cita- 
tions or interpretations of another, or of dislodging 
cherished and fixed opinions by any means short of a 
universal deluge, or an annihilation like that of the 
Egyptians by the Red Sea, or that of Sodom and 
Gtamorrha by fire, is given up. And so long as they 
nominally agree in respect to certain future issues, 
rds which they think the onward course of things 
in the physical, i ni--l loctual, scientific, mechanical, social 
and religious world is wafting them, their theories and 
theil relative positions will allow them fearlessly to 
float down with the current, without having in advance 
even the light of a moon. There is a Millennium in 
prospeol : b vast, andefinable Mediterranean of some- 
thing better than the present, into which all the turbid 
streams of humanity are tending, and towards which 



320 THE MESSIAH 

the preaching of the gospel to all nations is but a 
tributary. 

The aspect of things, accordingly, is much like that in 
the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing; as if 
Satan were already bound, and no deluge of wrath or 
terrors of retribution were impending; and as if with 
science and art, ancient relics and new inventions, gold 
mines and traffic, steam and electricity, as pioneers, the 
Ethiopian were about to change his skin, and the leopard 
his spots, the wolf to lie down with the lamb, and the 
lion to eat straw like the ox. The more startling the 
events of Providence, the shattering of political fabrics, 
the exscision and restoration of dynasties, the revival of 
Popish arrogations and intolerance, the pitched battle 
of despotism against liberty, the more sure they are to 
be construed as immediate signals of the universal pre- 
valence and triumph of human hopes. The purple and 
scarlet robes of the Babylonish Sorceress are seemingly 
changed to vestal whiteness, as gazed at through the 
spectrum of discolored glass, or seen in the sepulchral, 
bewildering, superstitious twilight of Baalistic tapers; 
while the murmurings of unearthly music, the chantings 
and mutterings of unintelligible words, and the spell of 
imputed and pretended mysteries, subdue the victim 
to whatever the spiritual operator may prescribe or 
denounce. The nations in the four quarters of the 
globe seem to many to be about to renounce their idol- 
atries, and to be released without a struggle on the part 
of Satan, who has held them in bondage hitherto, and to 
be arranging to assume white robes and take their sta- 
tions on the glass-like expanse before the throne. The 
partisans of such views neither realize nor believe that 
there is any thing to the contrary revealed in Scripture ; 
or if there is, it is so concealed in symbol and figure as 



IN MOSES AND THE PEOPHETS. 321 

to preclude its being understood till all is over. And 
accordingly, like the Pharisees of old, who scrupulously 
paid tithes of mint and all manner of herbs, and omitted 
the weightier matters of practical righteousness, faith, 
and the love of God, they resolve religion into outward 
action, the love of God into eclectic sympathy with his 
creatures, and faith into their theory of particular duties. 
Formerly, in religious controversy, there was some- 
thing positive on one side, against which an opposing 
negative was asserted. In the great controversy re- 
corded in the Bible, the supremacy of Jehovah and the 
authority of his Word were explicitly and constantly 
affirmed by one party, and as directly and perseveringly 
denied by the other ; and the two parties were there- 
fore broadly and unmistakably distinguished. But at 
present the case is widely different. No active partisan, 
theological or scientific, now denies the existence of a 
Supreme Being, or professes to disbelieve the Scrip- 
tures. All claim to be believers in God and in the 
Bible. What they differ about is as to what kind of 
Being that is whom they call God ; whether personality 
is one of his attributes, and what works and purposes 
are to be ascribed to him : and as to what the Scrip- 
tures teach, how they are to be understood; whether 
they are inspired or not; whether they are all typical, 
or what portion or whether the whole of them is in • 
some way figurative ; whether miracles were ever 
WTOUgh.1 : whether the Mosaic account of the creation is 
to be understood literally, and the like. Ami if there 
is at this moment) in the compass of the world, or in 
tin' Protestanl portion of it, one comprehensive error, 
conspicuous above all others, it is thai of inadequate, 
partial, defective appn-hensions, recognitions, and ac- 
knowledgments of what the Scriptures reveal concern- 
14* 



II 



322 THE MESSIAH 

ing the Person, prerogatives, offices, works, dominion, 
triumph, and glory of the Messiah, and concerning his 
yet unended conflict with the Arch-apostate. 



IN MOSES AjST) THE PROPHETS. 323 



NOTE B, p. 306. 

The primary ground or reason of that mediation, in 
the economy of the universe, which is affirmed of the 
one Mediator in all the relations of God to the "World, 
is the infinite difference between the Deity and creatures 
in nature, attributes, and mode of existence and action; 
The relations implied in the existence and agency of 
creatures are such as cannot be conceived to subsist 
between beings so diverse in all respects as the infinite 
and finite, except through an intermediate agent, in the 
constitution of whose person and office the opposite 
extremes are united. For in creating, upholding, and 
governing finite beings, the agency of the Creator and 
Euler connects itself with the conditions and relations 
of time and space ; the conditions and relations of 
matter ; of succession of thought, feeling, and action ; 
of that which is external, visible, limited ; that which 
begins and ends. 

It may therefore be said, that in the nature of things 
such mediation, the interposition of such an official 
Person, is necessary ; and accordingly the agency of the 
Mediator in those relations is presupposed, assumed, or 
expressly recognized, throughout the Scriptures. 

In this system, the moral government which is ad- 
ministered by the Mediator is founded on the perfections, 
prerogatives and rights of the Deity as manifested by 
hiin in the works of creation, providence and grace, 
and applies to creatures in the relations which they sus- 
tain to him. 

The whole is therefore a system of manifestation ; on 



324 THE MESSIAH 

his part of the perfections and rights of the Deity, and 
on theirs of holiness and happiness, or of sin and 
misery, in the relations in which they exist. In the 
progress of this system, all intelligent creatures will be 
instructed in all that is knowable by them concerning 
the Deity, and all that respects themselves, and the 
nature, tendency, and consequences of holiness on the 
one hand, and of apostasy and wickedness on the other. 

The Deity thus made known will, by the holy, the 
unfallen and redeemed, be eternally reverenced, su- 
premely loved, and exclusively worshipped and obeyed; 
his rights and prerogatives will be acknowledged, and 
his perfections and the boundless emanations of his 
goodness be regarded with ceaseless, adoring, grateful 
rapture and delight. 

In the administration of his moral government over 
apostate creatures, and in their future punishment, the 
Mediator's sceptre is a sceptre of perfect righteousness. 

The course of things eventually to be realized . on 
earth will be such as would have taken place from the 
beginning, had no apostasy occurred. The apostasy 
and the curse on man and the earth will be overcome. 
The antagonism between the Mediator and the Adver- 
sary will cease. The earth, freed from the curse and 
from all enemies, renovated, restored to its original 
beauty, will be the perpetual scene of holiness and, 
happiness. 

Under the past and present dispensations, the object 
has been to do away the consequences of the fall of the 
first Adam as head of the race. When the second 
Adam, ("the Lord from heaven,") as head of his elect 
people, shall have accomplished this at his second 
advent, and destroyed all enemies, he will be thenceforth 
the head of the race for ever. 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 325 

The apostasy -was a violation of preexisting relations 
between the Creator and creatures. The victory gained 
by Satan over the first Adam as head of his race made 
him as much master of that Adam and his descendants 
as he was of the angels who joined him in apostasy. 
By that victory he had the power of death. Doubtless 
it was his object to destroy, as to the purposes and 
mode of existence for which they were created, the 
race with which, by the constitution of his official Per- 
son, the Mediator was connected ; and thereby to defeat 
him. 

The victory of the second Adam over Satan, utterly 
despoils him "of all he had taken from the first Adam, 
destroys all his works, and ends in the destruction of 
himself and all enemies. As yet the results are but 
partially manifested. His victory as man — the victory 
of that nature in his official Person which had been 
overthrown in Adam — was achieved by his triumph 
over the direct personal temptation in the wilderness, 
and by his death, resurrection and ascension. The con- 
summation of his triumph by the final overthrow and 
banishment of all enemies, in which his Divine attri- 
butes and prerogatives will be displayed, is yet future. 

The administration of the Mediator in the govern- 
ment of this world, proceeds upon a definite and intel- 
ligible plan. It is one scheme, with which all ngencies 
and events are connected, and of which the consumma- 
tion Is distinctly foretold. The Mediator is, from the 
beginning to the ettd, the Divine Actor and ReveaW, 
tli.- Alpha and Omega, first and last. 

Prom tin- date of the apostasy this governmenl re* 

o mankind as separated into two classes or parties, 

tlir loyal and the rebellions. The result of the first 

prolonged trial was the destruction of the whole race 



326 THE MESSIAH 

as rebellious and incorrigible, Noah and bis family 
excepted. 

On the apostasy of the renewed race, shortly after 
the deluge, to the impious rival system of idolatry, 
Abraham was called to be the head of a separated race, 
who, by a system of external and visible rites, institu- 
tions, teachings, services, benefits and discipline, were to 
be visibly' — and as peculiarly dealt with, in contrast with 
the rest of the world — the loyal party. As such, the 
Mediator was personally to dwell with them and to 
exercise his offices, and rule them as Priest and King. 

He accordingly, having brought the children of Israel 
into the wilderness of Sinai, entered, prior to the giving 
of the Law, into a formal covenant with them, as re- 
corded in Exodus xix : " Jehovah called unto Moses 
out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to 
the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel ; 
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how 
I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto 
myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, 
and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar trea- 
sure unto me above all people; (for all the earth is 
mine ;) and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, 
and a holy nation." Moses rehearsed these terms to 
the people: 'And all the people answered together, 
and said, All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do. 
And Moses returned the words of the people unto 
Jehovah." 

During the trial under this covenant, the other nations 
were governed and dealt with as in a state of total and 
avowed rebellion, under condemnation, and obnoxious 
to the demands of justice. Pursuant to this system, the 
nations of Canaan were first destroyed. After Egypt, 
Assyria was for a long time the head of the rebellious 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 327 

party ; then Babylon, and subsequently the four empires 
predicted in Daniel. 

All the nations and governments of that party were 
idolatrous. This was the leading feature in their cha- 
racter as apostates and rebels. And to this, by their 
relations to them, the Israelites were constantly in- 
stigated. 

The Messenger Jehovah, having executed judgment 
upon Egypt, and brought the children of Israel into 
the wilderness of Sinai, appeared on the top of the 
mount in the brightness of lightnings, and with the 
voice of a trumpet which shook the mountain. The 
people, who, after witnessing the wonders of Egypt and 
of the Red Sea, had exhibited a murmuring and rebel- 
lious spirit, were impressed and awed by this manifesta- 
tion, while the Law of the Ten Commandments was 
announced. " They removed and stood afar off. And 
they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we 
will hear ; but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die. 
A nd Moses said unto the people, Fear not ; for the 
Elohim is come to prove you, and that his fear may be 
before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood 
afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness 
where the Elohim was. And Jehovah said unto 
Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, 
Ye have soon that 1 hare talked with you from heaven. 
i il n. >t make with ine Elohc of silver, neither 

shall ye make unto you Elohe of gold. An altar of 
earth thou .-halt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice 
thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings. . . . 
in all places where I record my name I will come 
unto thee, and I will bless thee." Exod. xx. 

Thus, a1 the outset of this trial, under the mosl appal- 
ling tokens of his presence, Jehovah reiterates the pro- 



328 THE MESSIAH 

hibition expressed in the first two commandments 
against idolatry. Among the judicial laws prescribed 
at the same time with the moral, there is one making 
idolatry a civil offense, to be punished with death. 
" He that sacrificeth unto any Elohim, save unto Jehovah 
only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Exodus xxii. 20. 
Again (xxiii. 13) they are enjoined to "make no men- 
tion of the name of any other Elohim :" and subse- 
quently in the same chapter they are commanded not 
to bow down to the Elohim of the nations of Canaan, 
but to overthrow them and break down their images. 

Moses having written out the moral and judicial laws 
thus far prescribed, the people consented to them and 
promised obedience ; and having built an altar, and 
"twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel," 
he offered sacrifices, read the book of the covenant, 
and ratified it by sprinkling blood on the people. 
Exod. xxiv. 

After this proceeding, Moses with the elders ascended 
the mount, where, after an extraordinary personal 
manifestation of Jehovah, the Elohe of Israel, the 
ceremonial law was prescribed. Nearty forty days hav- 
ing elapsed, the people, impatient at Moses' absence, in- 
stigated Aaron to make them a molten image — a golden 
calf. This being done under pretense that the image 
represented Jehovah, " they said, This is thy Elohe, O 
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" 
Aaron built an altar before it, and appointed "a feast 
to Jehovah ; and upon the altar they offered burnt 
offerings and peace offerings." Exod. xxxii. 

For this audacious treason and unbelief, about three 
thousand men were slain : soon after which, Jehovah 
made a covenant with the people, promising to drive 
out the Canaanites before them, and renewedly en- 



IN MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 329 

joining them to break their images and destroy their 
altars and groves. Chap, xxxiv. 

The tabernacle having been erected and offerings 
made according to the ritual, " There came a fire out 
from before Jehovah, and consumed upon the altar the 
burnt offering, . . . which when all the people saw, they 
shouted and fell on their faces." Leviticus ix. On this 
occasion two of the priests, Nadab and Abihu, sons of 
Aaron, in the spirit of the Egyptian idolatry, burnt 
incense with strange fire, i.e., such as idolaters used : 
"And there went out fire from Jehovah and devoured 
them, and they died before Jehovah." Levit. x. 

The constant recurrence of reproof, instruction and 
prediction, in the historical and prophetic writings of 
the Old Testament, proceeds from the nature of that 
dispensation, the conduct of the people under it, and 
the manner of its final consummation. 

The dispensation was one of outward and visible 
manifestation, discipline, trial, prefiguration and hope ; 
disobedience under it was acted out visibly in idolatry 
and all practical abominations. Reproofs were uttered 
according to actual circumstances, having respect to 
present actual wickedness. 

A leading feature of that dispensation was that of 
the personal, local, visible appearances and interpositions 
of tli<- Mediator. The tendencies and results of the 
dispensation wen thwarted and delayed by the idolatry 
and wickedness of the people. The predictions, founded 
in the nature and design of that visible economy, looked 
forward to the circumstances, agencies and results 
which were to fulfil, complete and vindicate the nature 
and original design of the economy. 

Eence the humiliation and vicarious Bufferings of the 
Mediator, and the glory of his ultimate manifestations, 



330 THE MESSIAH 

judgments and triumph, are the prominent topics of 
prophetic announcement ; and the latter chiefly, as more 
in keeping with the analogy of the past, and as being 
ultimate and perfect. By the things thus predicted, the 
thwarted and delayed purposes and tendencies of the 
dispensation were to be adequately provided for, and 
rendered effective by the foreseen intervention of the 
agency and power of the Mediator in his incarnate state. 
The prophets accordingly pass from the circumstances 
which gave rise to their predictions to the circumstances 
aud events of their fulfilment by the Mediator in his 
future visible manifestations. 

It was, for example, provided in the Mosaic economy 
that the loyalty and obedience of the Israelites should 
have a trial under the government of the Mediator as 
King; as Priest and King on his throne in the taber- 
nacle. Being thus perfectly protected and provided for, 
they had every facility and every inducement to be 
loyal and obedient. But they rebelled and rejected 
him as King. 

At length they desired and solicited a human chief- 
tain as king, after the manner of the surrounding na- 
tions. This was granted, and a trial made under vice- 
gerents in the persons of David and Solomon, sitting on 
the throne of Jehovah, as rulers in his place, and as 
types of his kingly office, when he shall at the latter day 
visibly resume it. 

The rejection of the Mediator as King, and the con- 
sequent interruption and final discontinuance of the 
theocratic administration, gave occasion to the mission 
of the prophets ; the earliest of whom, Hosea, prophe-7 
sied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Heze- 
kiah, about 800 years before Christ, and the latest, 
Malachi, about 440 B.C. Hosea flourished about 180 



IN MOSES A2CD THE PROPHETS. 331 

years after the death of Solomon. The apostasy of all 
the tribes to idol-worship was then nearly total. The 
restoration from the Babylonish exile having resulted 
in no reformation, both Jews and Samaritans, at the close 
of Malachi's mission, were, like the heathen nations, left 
to themselves. 

The prophets and true worshippers all regarded the 
separation of the ten tribes as an apostasy from the 
theocratic government, the seat of which was in the 
temple, and the representative vicegerent on the throne 
was to be in the line of David. 

Elijah's taking twelve stones, according to the num- 
ber of the tribes of Israel, when he repaired the altar 
of Jehovah and offered acceptable sacrifices, showed 
that he considered the defection of the ten tribes as a 
rejection of Jehovah as Mediator. 1 Kings xviii. 31. 
True worship was to be offered, in conformity with the 
system connected with the temple 

The reformation under Hezekiah and that under 
Josiah also virtually included, in respect to religion, a 
reunion of all the tribes. There could be no return to 
Jehovah, but by returningto the temple worship, where 
He as Mediator presided. The separation of the ten 
tribes was eqeally a religious and a civil apostasy; for 
Jehovah, as Priest and King on his throne, was at once 
the head of the religious and civil system. Hence the 
political revolt and the institution of a rival and hostile 
civil government, was necessarily connected with the 
institution of a rival and hostile religious system. A 
political revolt necessarily involved a religious one; 
and to maintain their political power in opposition to 
thai of the line of David, Jeroboam and his successors 
found it necessary to render the separation in respect to 
religion as wide as possible. 



332 THE MESSIAH 

The prophets accordingly, -while they speak of the 
chiefs of the revolted tribes as kings, in conformity with 
popular usage, never recognize them as such of right. 

To effect an entire religious apostasy as a means of 
sustaining the political revolt, (1 Kings xii.) Jeroboam 
instituted the golden calves, under pretense of their 
being symbols, representative of the Jehovah, and in 
place of the Shekina. The Levites appear to have re- 
fused to concur in the imposture thus attempted, and 
being exiled as likely to hinder its success. Priests to 
officiate in this apostate worship were selected from the 
lowest of the people. So offensive and intolerable 
indeed to the true worshippers was this apostasy, 
"that the priests, and the Levites that were in all Israel 
. . . came to Judah and Jerusalem. . . . And after 
them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their 
hearts to seek Jehovah, the Elohe of Israel, came to 
Jerusalem to sacrifice to Jehovah, the Elohe of their 
fathers." 2 Chron. xi. 13-16. Jeroboam, having cast off 
the Levites, "ordained him priests for the high places, 
and for the devils, and for the calves which he had 
made." Ibid. 

The government of the ten tribes being founded in a 
total apostasy, and including a rival and hostile system 
of religion, is treated accordingly by the prophets as a 
rebellion. As a rebellion, it could not dissolve the 
relation previously established, by solemn covenants, 
between Jehovah, as Priest and King on his throne in 
the tabernacle, and the people of Israel. That relation 
could be dissolved or discontinued on his part, only by 
such events as afterwards took place in their rejection 
and exile. In the meantime, prophets were sent to them, 
and various dispensations of judgment and mercy were 
employed to reclaim them from their idolatry and 
wickedness. 



IX MOSES AND THE PROPHETS. 333 

Such, is the point of view in which the Israelites and 
their kings are to be regarded in considering the lan- 
guage and predictions of the prophets. Viewed in 
this light, the statements respecting their apostate con- 
dition, the aggravations of their wickedness, the judg- 
ments inflicted on them, their dispersion, and the pre- 
dictions concerning their future restoration under one 
head, are for the most part rendered plain; while the 
fact that they revolted from the Theocracy, the system 
of local, personal, visible manifestation of the Mediator 
as Priest and King, is the manifest ground of the pre- 
dictions that, in due time, what had been thwarted and 
delayed by their wickedness will be resumed and 
carried into effect by a regathering of them under the 
Mediator as King, in his incarnate state and visible 

reign. 

Epoch. 



Note C, p. 21, after 2d paragraph. 

" Sometimes the same Divine appearance which at one 
time is called Melach Jehovah, is afterwards called sim- 
ply Jehovah, as in Gen. xvi. 7 ; Col. v. 13 ; Exod. iii. 2 ; 
OoL iv., &c, &c. This is to be so understood that the 
Angel of God is here nothing else than the invisible 
Deity itself, which thus unveils itself to mortal eyes." 
And after referring to Michael is and Tholuck, " Ilcnce 
Oriental translal ladias, AJbnsaides, and the 

Ghaldeo-Samaritan, wherever Jehovah himself is said 
to appear on earth, always put for the name of God, 
the Angel of God." Gesenius, Lex., Art. Melach. 



